f he only wished to do
so--and he ought to. His fortune was so much more important to
him than anything she could be.

"Don't worry about that," he replied stubbornly, his wrath at his
brother, and his family, and O'Brien still holding him. "There's time
enough. I don't know what I want to do yet. I like the effrontery of
these people! But I won't talk any more about it; isn't dinner nearly
ready?" He was so injured in his pride that he scarcely took the
trouble to be civil. He was forgetting all about her and what she was
feeling. He hated his brother Robert for this affront. He would have
enjoyed wringing the necks of Messrs. Knight, Keatley & O'Brien,
singly and collectively.

The question could not be dropped for good and all, and it came up
again at dinner, after Jennie had done her best to collect her
thoughts and quiet her nerves. They could not talk very freely because
of Vesta and Jeannette, but she managed to get in a word or two.

"I could take a little cottage somewhere," she suggested softly,
hoping to find him in a modified mood. "I would not want to stay here.
I would not know what to do with a big house like this alone."

"I wish you wouldn't discuss this business any longer, Jennie," he
persisted. "I'm in no mood for it. I don't know that I'm going to do
anything of the sort. I don't know what I'm going to do." He was so
sour and obstinate, because of O'Brien, that she finally gave it up.
Vesta was astonished to see her stepfather, usually so courteous, in
so grim a mood.

Jennie felt a curious sense that she might hold him if she would,
for he was doubting; but she knew also that she should not wish. It
was not fair to him. It was not fair to herself, or kind, or
decent.

"Oh yes, Lester, you must," she pleaded, at a later time. "I won't
talk about it any more, but you must. I won't let you do anything
else."

There were hours when it came up afterward--every day, in
fact--in their boudoir, in the library, in the dining-room, at
breakfast, but not always in words. Jennie was worried. She was
looking the worry she felt. She was sure that he should be made to
act. Since he was showing more kindly consideration for her, she was
all the more certain that he should act soon. Just how to go about it
she did not know, but she looked at him longingly, trying to help him
make up his mind. She would be happy, she assured herself--she
would be happy thinking that he was happy once she was away from him.