ad asked nothing of her. No, but he had imposed something
on her. She had volunteered for his service. It was indeed "women's
nonsense" when she spoke of him as "That Boy."

Duplay turned away from her, disheartened and disgusted. Things looked
well for the enemy. He was alone with his unsupported story of a
conversation which Mina would not repeat, with his empty purse which
could supply no means of proving what he said. He ran the risk of losing
what chance he had of Janie Iver's favor, and he was in sore peril of
coming off second-best again in his wrestling-bout with Harry Tristram.
The Man in Possession was strong. The perils that had seemed so
threatening were passing away. Mina was devoted; Neeld would be silent.
Who would there be who could effectively contest his claim, or oust him
from his place? Thus secure, he would hardly need the check always by
him. Yet he was a cautious wary young man. There is little doubt that he
would still like to have the check by him, and that he would take the
only means of getting it.

Now that the moment had come for which all his life had been a
preparation, Harry Tristram had little reason to be afraid.

X

BEHOLD THE HEIR!

Addie Tristram died with all her old uncommonness. Death was to her an
end more fully than it is to most; had she been herself responsible for
it, she could hardly have thought less of any possible consequences. And
it was to her such a beginning as it can seldom seem. She had been
living in anticipation of dying, but in a sense utterly remote from that
contemplation of their latter end which is enjoined on the pious. So
that, together with an acquiescence so complete as almost to justify her
son in calling it joyful, there was an expectation, nearly an
excitement--save that the tired body failed to second the mind. She
might have shown remorse, both for her own acts and for the position in
which she was leaving Harry; she fell in with the view he had always
maintained with her, that all these things had come about somehow, had
produced a certain state of affairs, and must be made to seem as if they
had done nothing of the sort. During the last day or two she was
delirious at intervals; as a precaution Harry was with her then, instead
of the nurse. The measure was superfluous; there was nothing on Lady
Tristram's mind, and when she spoke unconsciously, she spoke of trifles.
The few final hours found her conscious and intelligent, although very