caused. My father no doubt placed
my mother's money there for safety."

"I wrote one long, final letter when I sent the checks for the money,
and I told Ellice I wished never to see, never to hear from her again.
I told her also, I had only one wish concerning her, and that was, that
I might be able to forget her so completely, that if we should meet in
the Last Judgment, I could not possibly know her. I assured her she
need expect nothing at my death; as I had taken good care that my
estate should not fall into the clutches of--her--'exiled scion of a
noble house.' Now do you consider that she has any claim on me?"

"You must not ask me to sit in judgment on my parents."

"You shall decide a question of business facts. I provided liberally
for her once; can you expect me to do so again? Has she any right to
demand it?"

"Having defied your parental wishes, she may have forfeited a
daughter's claim; but as a heart-broken sufferer, you cannot deny her
the melancholy privilege of praying for your help, on her death-bed."

The proud clear voice trembled, and Beryl covered her face with her
hands.

"Then we will ignore outraged ties of blood, and treat on the ground of
mere humanity? Let me conclude, for it is sickening and loathsome to a
man of my age, to see his long silent household graves yawn, and give
up uncalled--their sheeted dead. For some years the money sent, was a
quietus, and I was left in peace. I was lonely; it was, hard work to
forget, because I could never forgive; and the more desolate the gray
ruin, the more nature yearns to cover it close with vines and flowers;
so after a time, I married a gentle, pure hearted woman, who made the
best of what was left of me. We had no children, but she had one son of
a former marriage, who proved a noble trustworthy boy; and by degrees
he crept into my heart, and raked together the cinders of my dead
affections, and kindled a feeble flame that warmed my shivering old
age. When I felt assured that I was not thawing another serpent to
sting me for my pains, I adopted Thorton Prince, and with the aid of a
Legislative enactment, changed his name to Prince Darrington. Only a
few months elapsed, before his mother, of whom I was very fond, died of
consumption and my boy and I comforted each other. Then I made my
second and last will, and took every possible precaution to secure my
estate of every description to him. He is my sole heir, and I intend
that at my death he s