une was of Phoebe, and the
opportunities it laid open to him where she was concerned. His uncle
had been dilatory in the matter of dying, but his nephew did not have
it in his kindly heart to hold it up against the old gentleman.
Still, if he had passed on a fortnight earlier, the decree might have
been anticipated by a few days and Phoebe at least saved for him.
Seeing that the poor old gentleman had to die anyway, it seemed rather
inconsiderate of fate to put it off so long as it did. As it was, he
would have to make the best of it and institute some sort of
proceedings to get possession of the child for half of the year at the
shortest.

He went so far as to slyly consult an impecunious lawyer about the
matter, with the result that a long letter was sent to Nellie setting
out the facts and proposing an amicable arrangement in lieu of more
sinister proceedings. Harvey added a postscript to the lawyer's
diplomatic rigmarole, conveying a plain hint to Nellie that, inasmuch
as he was now quite well-to-do, she might fare worse than to come back
to him and begin all over again.

The letter was hardly on its way to Reno, with instructions to
forward, when he began to experience a deep and growing sense of
shame; it was a pusillanimous trick he was playing on his poor old
woman-hating uncle. Contemplating a resumption of the conjugal state
almost before the old gentleman was cold in his grave! It was
contemptible. In no little dread he wondered if his uncle would come
back to haunt him. There was, at any rate, no getting away from the
gruesome conviction, ludicrous as it may seem, that he would be
responsible for the brisk turning over of Uncle Peter, if nothing
more.

On top of this spell of uneasiness came the surprising proposition of
Mrs. Davis. Between the suspense of not hearing from Nellie and the
dread of offending the dead he was already in a sharp state of nerves.
But when Mrs. Davis gently confided to him that she needed a live man
to conduct her affairs without being actuated by a desire to earn a
weekly salary he was completely stupefied.

"I'm afraid I don't understand, Mrs. Davis," he said, beginning to
perspire very freely.

They were seated in the parlour of her house in Brown Street. She had
sent for him.

"Of course, Harvey, it is most unseemly of me to suggest it at the
present time, seeing as I have only been in mourning for three months,
but I thought perhaps you'd feel more settled like if you