interests, and she listened in grave attention.
When the matter was concluded, Mr. North cleared his throat with a
nervous but ingratiating smile.

"Now, my dear, I think we should come to an understanding about your
other inheritance; that left to you by--ah, Gentleman Geoff. Mr.
Baggott, the executor, informed me that the sale of your foster
father's establishment alone netted two hundred thousand dollars and
there are other securities and bank deposits, besides. He very
ill-advisedly turned them over to you, but you, of course, cannot think
of handling such a sum on your own initiative. It must be invested
under mature judgment, and you are still a minor. If you will place
the necessary deeds and memoranda in our hands----"

"I am not a minor under Mexican law." Willa bent a steady gaze upon
him. "Dad trusted me with absolute control and I'm going to play a
lone hand as far as that money is concerned, Mr. North. You can tie as
many strings as you please to the Murdaugh fortune, I'm not worrying
about that; I have enough without it, and what I've got I'm going to
keep."

"Little cousin, that would be impossible." Halstead shook his head.
"I would not interfere in any way with your personal liberty, but this
is a matter in which you must defer to your proper guardians. You are
incapable of managing it alone, and it is unthinkable that you should
try."

"I'm very sorry, Cousin Ripley; I seem to be saying that all the time,
don't I?" She smiled faintly, but her little chin was set in
determined lines. "You may not have known it, but I've banked and
invested Dad's money--and speculated with it, too--for the last three
years, and he always said he would trust my judgment before any hombre
in Mexico. I know you don't like me to speak of Dad, but I only wanted
you to know that I'm really quite capable."

"Willa, my dear--" began Halstead, but the lawyer stopped him with a
gesture.

"Do you realize that we can have the entire estate taken out of your
hands by process of law and turned over to us as your guardians? We
most certainly shall, if you persist, in order to protect you against
your own wilful recklessness. My dear, you will not force us to such a
disagreeable and expensive step? You are not going to disappoint us by
proving ungrateful for the interest we have taken in you?"

"I am not ungrateful!" she cried passionately. "I know you are all
trying to help me and look out for me, and I am than