human
I made a good thing of it Angus, she continued.
gpt
I am to go to Prince's Gate every morning, I am to be there at ten, and give my services till one o'clock. I am then to have lunch with the young lady, and for all this, and the enjoyment of a good dinner into the bargain, I am to receive thirty shillings a week. Does not it sound too good to be true?
human
And that is how we are to be rich, Lottie. Well, go on and prosper. I know what an active little woman you are and how impossible it is for you to let the grass grow under your feet. I do not object to your trying this thing, if it is not too much for your strength, and if you can safely leave the children.
gpt
I have thought of the children, Angus; this is so much for their real interest, that it would be a pity to throw it away. But, as you say, they must not be neglected. I shall ask that little Alice Martin to come in to look after them until I am back every day; she will be glad to earn half-a-crown a week.
human
As much in proportion, as your thirty shillings is to you--eh, Lottie? See how rich we are in reality.
gpt
That is not all you have got to tell me,
human
No, it is only leading up to what I want to tell you. It is what has set me thinking so hard all day that I can keep it to myself no longer. Angus, prepare for a surprise; that beautiful young lady, who bears the same name I bore before I was married--is--is--she is my near relation.
gpt
Your near relation, Charlotte? But I never knew you had any near relations.
human
No, dear, I never told you; my mother thought it best that you should not know. She only spoke to me of them when she was dying. She was sorry afterwards that she had even done that; she begged of me, unless great necessity arose, not to say anything to you. It is only because it seems to me the necessity has really come that I speak of what gave my mother such pain to mention.
gpt
Yes, dear, you have wealthy relations. I don't know that it matters very greatly. But go on.
human
There is more than that, Angus, but I will try to tell you all. You know how poor I was when you found me, and gave me your love and yourself.
gpt
We were both poor, Lottie; so much so that we thought two hundred a year, which was what we had to begin housekeeping on, quite riches.
human
Yes, Angus; well, I had been poor all my life, I could never do what rich girls did, I was so accustomed to wearing shabby dresses, and eating plain food, and doing without the amusements which seem to come naturally into the lives of most young girls, that I had ceased to miss them. I was sent to a rather good school, and had lessons in music and painting, and I sometimes wondered how my mother had money even to give me these. Then I met you, and we were married. It was just after our little Harold was born that my mother died.
gpt
Yes, you went down into Hertfordshire; you were away for six weeks.