"'Yes.'

"'And said nothing?'

"'Nothing.'

"We looked at each other; both of us feeling the same doubt of how the
day would end. Miss Minerva pointed impatiently to the lawyer's reply. I
opened it.

"Mr. Mool's letter was very kind, but quite incomprehensible in the
latter part of it. After referring me to his private residence, in case
I wished to consult him personally later in the day, he mentioned some
proceeding, called 'proving the Will,' and some strange place called
'Doctors' Commons.' However, there was the copy of the Will, and that
was all we wanted.

"I began reading it. How I pitied the unfortunate men who have to learn
the law! My dear Teresa, I might as well have tried to read an unknown
tongue. The strange words, the perpetual repetitions, the absence of
stops, utterly bewildered me. I handed the copy to Miss Minerva. Instead
of beginning on the first page, as I had done, she turned to the last.
With what breathless interest I watched her face! First, I saw that she
understood what she was reading. Then, after a while, she turned pale.
And then, she lifted her eyes to me. 'Don't be frightened,' she said.

"But I was frightened. My ignorant imagination pictured some dreadful
unknown power given to Mrs. Gallilee by the Will. 'What can my aunt do
to me?' I asked.

"Miss Minerva composed me--without concealing the truth. 'In her
position, Carmina, and with her intensely cold and selfish nature, there
is no fear of her attempting to reach her ends by violent means.
Your happiness may be in danger--and that prospect, God knows, is bad
enough.'

"When she talked of my happiness, I naturally thought of Ovid. I asked
if there was anything about him in the Will.

"It was no doubt a stupid thing to say at such a time; and it seemed to
annoy her. 'You are the only person concerned,' she answered sharply.
'It is Mrs. Gallilee's interest that you shall never be her son's wife,
or any man's wife. If she can have her way, you will live and die an
unmarried woman.'

"This did me good: it made me angry. I began to feel like myself again.
I said, 'Please let me hear the rest of it.'

"Miss Minerva first patiently explained to me what she had read in
the Will. She then returned to the subject of my aunt's extravagance;
speaking from experience of what had happened in her own family. 'If
Mrs. Gallilee borrows money,' she said, 'her husband will, in all
probability, have to repay the loan. And, if borrowin