? ? ? ? 'But about the respectable business first,' said my aunt. 'If he had been your own boy, you would have put him to it, just the same, I suppose?'
? ? ? ? 'If he had been my brother's own boy,' returned Miss Murdstone, striking in, 'his character, I trust, would have been altogether different.'
? ? ? ? 'Or if the poor child, his mother, had been alive, he would still have gone into the respectable business, would he?' said my aunt.
? ? ? ? 'I believe,' said Mr. Murdstone, with an inclination of his head, 'that Clara would have disputed nothing which myself and my sister Jane Murdstone were agreed was for the best.'
? ? ? ? Miss Murdstone confirmed this with an audible murmur.
? ? ? ? 'Humph!' said my aunt. 'Unfortunate baby!'
? ? ? ? Mr. Dick, who had been rattling his money all this time, was rattling it so loudly now, that my aunt felt it necessary to check him with a look, before saying:
? ? ? ? 'The poor child's annuity died with her?'
? ? ? ? 'Died with her,' replied Mr. Murdstone.
? ? ? ? 'And there was no settlement of the little property - the house and garden - the what's-its-name Rookery without any rooks in it - upon her boy?'
? ? ? ? 'It had been left to her, unconditionally, by her first husband,' Mr.
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