could not
escape realising these things. But they meant no more to her than the
fact that her nose was not awry, and her lips were not misshapen, and
her even, white teeth were perfectly competent for their proper
function.

She was a happy blending of soul and mentality. Heredity seemed to have
done its best for her. The Gaelic fire and the brilliance and
irresponsibility of her misguided father seemed to have been balanced
and tempered by the gentle woman soul of her mother. And through the
eyes of both she gazed out upon the world, inspired and supported by a
tireless nervous energy.

Since the memorable day of her interview with her appointed trustee,
Charles Nisson, her development had been rapid. The events which had
suddenly been flung into her life at the interview seemed to have
unloosed a hundred latent, unguessed emotions in her child heart, and
translated her at once into a thinking, high-spirited woman.

She honestly strove to banish bitterness against the man who had
deprived her of that mother love which had been her childhood's
treasure, but always a shadow of it remained to colour her thought, and
influence her impulse. She had studied the deed of settlement as she had
promised. She had studied it coldly, dispassionately. She had looked
upon it as a mere document aimed to benefit her, without regard for her
feelings for the man who had made it. She had thought over it at night
when passion was less to be controlled. She had consulted those she had
been bidden to consult, and had listened to, and had weighed their
kindly advice. And when all was done she took her own decision as she
was bound to do. It was a decision that had no relation to reason, only
to passionate impulse.

She would not accept the things the deed offered her. She would not
accept this reparation so coldly held out. She would not live a
leisured, vegetable life, with no greater ambition than to marry and
bear children. The simple prospect of marriage and motherhood could
never satisfy in itself. That would be a happy incident, but not the
whole, and acceptance of that deed would surely have robbed her of the
rest.

There were times when she felt the disabilities of her sex. She knew she
was deprived of the physical strength which the battle of life seemed to
demand. But to her the world was wide, and big, and, in her girl's
imagination, teeming with appealing adventure. The world alone could not
satisfy her.

Once her decisi