ient is
her friend as well as her nearest relative? Flesh and blood is flesh and
blood--you can't get away from that fact. He wants to open his heart to
her. Hang it, they've been separated long enough! All his movements,
however seemingly unfriendly, have been actuated only by a sense of
justice to his own family."

"Perfectly true--perfectly true," broke in Jimmy eagerly. "She is my
brother's child, and, although we've seen nothing of her, nevertheless I
feel that I am far more competent to--to take charge of--the family
estate--than she is."

"The family estate?" interrupted Mr. Ricaby, elevating his eyebrows.

"Yes," said Jimmy boldly. "My brother's estate and mine. You know, the
woman he married----"

Cooley held up his hand with a deprecating gesture:

"Now, please, don't let us go into that phase of the matter. The
marriage was kept secret, but we have conceded that it was a marriage.
Once and for all, let us have done with this litigation business. My
client doesn't want to drag this case through the courts for years. He
can if he wants to--but he doesn't. What he wants is--peace and
harmony."

"And his brother's estate," interrupted Mr. Ricaby sarcastically.

Mr. Cooley looked aggrieved.

"Ricaby," he said, "that insinuation is not in keeping with the friendly
purpose of this meeting. My client is special administrator--an
appointee of the Court--and we are acting under the law----"

"The law!" exclaimed Mr. Ricaby scornfully. "That's the damnable part of
it! You're acting under a law that compels a widow or orphan to spend
thousands of dollars on litigation in order to obtain what is theirs by
right."

Mr. Cooley shrugged his shoulders.

"The law is all right."

"Then it's dishonest interpretation that's at fault," retorted the other
hotly. "Something is rotten somewhere when the courts can be used to
legally deprive this girl of her inheritance."

Mr. Cooley rolled his eyes and remained unperturbed. Suavely, glibly, he
said:

"You're repeating yourself, brother Ricaby. So you told the judge, and
it didn't do your case a particle of good. That's a sign of weakness.
But come, I promised myself not to allow anything to interrupt the
peaceful, harmonious flow of events." With an effort at flowery
rhetoric, he went on pompously: "Let us bury the legal axe, let's bring
flesh and blood together, that they may be reunited over the grave of a
buried family feud. Let us bring our clients together on