"It is not that!" I exclaimed. "No, I am not. I am not - I
shall not be a great heiress, or an heiress at all, I think.
Christian is richer than I."
"My dear!" said Miss Cardigan. "Christian never said a word to
me about it, but your friend Mrs. Sandford - she told me; she
told me you would be one of the richest women in your State."
"She thought so," - I said.
"My dear, your parents are very wealthy; and they have only
one other child, Mrs. Sandford told me. I remember, for it
took me with a pity at my heart, little Daisy, for you."
"Yes, they are wealthy," I said; "and Ransom, my brother, is
the only other one. He will be rich. But I shall not."
"Do you mean he is the favourite?" said Miss Cardigan.
"Oh, no!" I said. "At least, if he is, so am I. It isn't that.
But I shall never be an heiress, Miss Cardigan. I shall be
very poor, I rather think."
I smiled at her as I said these words - they were upon the
first pleasant subject that had been touched for some time
between us; and Miss Cardigan looked quite bewildered. I
remembered she had good reason; and I thought it was right,
though very much against my will, to explain my words.
"You know what makes my father and mother rich?" I said.
"My dear!" said Miss Cardigan - "They have large Southern
properties."
"And you know what makes Southern wealth?" I went on.
"Rice - cotton -"
"No, it isn't that," I said.
"What then, my dear? I do not know what you mean. I thought it
was mainly cotton."
"It is unpaid labour," I said. "It is hands that ought to work
for themselves; and men and women that ought to belong to
themselves."
"Slaves," said Miss Cardigan. "But, Daisy, what do you mean?
It's all true; but what can you do?"
"I can have nothing to do with it. And I will have nothing. I
would rather be poor, as poor as old Darry and Maria, than
take what belongs to them. Miss Cardigan, so would you."
She settled herself back in her chair, like a person who has
got a new thought. "My dear child!" she said. And then she
said nothing more. I did not wish she should. I wanted no
counsel, nor to hear any talk about it. I had only spoken so
much, as thinking she had a right to hear it. I went back into
my own meditations.