In regard to Melmotte’s effects generally the Crown had been induced to abstain from interfering,—­giving up the right to all the man’s plate and chairs and tables which it had acquired by the finding of the coroner’s verdict,—­not from tenderness to Madame Melmotte, for whom no great commiseration was felt, but on behalf of such creditors as poor Mr Longestaffe and his son.  But Marie’s money was quite distinct from this.  She had been right in her own belief as to this property, and had been right, too, in refusing to sign those papers,—­unless it may be that that refusal led to her father’s act.  She herself was sure that it was not so, because she had withdrawn her refusal, and had offered to sign the...