was impossible for the family to be exacting as regarded sentiments: she was abandoned entirely to the old man's power. Fortunately for herself, he was taken ill on the very day of the nuptials, and, after a lingering period of suffering, died, leaving her mistress of half of one of the finest fortunes in Europe. By birth he was a Wallachian Jew, brought up in London and Paris, but he had been naturalised in England, when a youth, for commercial objects, and the disposition of his property lay under his own control. A year or two after his death a later will was found by his lawyers, still leaving her the same income, but decreeing that in the event of her second marriage everything should pass away from her to the public charities, save alone her jewels, her horses, all things she might have purchased, the house in Paris, which had been a gift, and some eight hundred a year already secured to her. The new will was proved, and she was informed that she could enjoy her fortune only by this tenure. She was indifferent. She was quite sure that she would never wish to many any one. She loved her wealth and spent
Page:In a winter city, by Ouida.djvu/308
This page has been validated.
IN A WINTER CITY.
301
