Lady Laura's fortune
would, it was thought, soon be at her own disposal. They who acted
for her husband had assured the Earl that the yearly interest of the
money should be at her ladyship's command as soon as the law would
allow them so to plan it. Of Robert Kennedy's inability to act for
himself there was no longer any doubt whatever, and there was, they
said, no desire to embarrass the estate with so small a disputed
matter as the income derived from L40,000. There was great pride
of purse in the manner in which the information was conveyed;--but
not the less on that account was it satisfactory to the Earl. Lady
Laura's first thought about it referred to the imminent wants of
Phineas Finn. How might it be possible for her to place a portion of
her income at the command of the man she loved so that he should not
feel disgraced by receiving it from her hand? She conceived some plan
as to a loan to be made nominally by her brother,--a plan as to which
it may at once be said that it could not be made to hold water for a
minute.
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