omen, and it was no
strange thing that these two young ones, living all by themselves in
London, should hef a quarrel. But it will come all right again if we
do not make too much about it. If they like one another, they will
soon come together again, tek my word for it, Mr. Ingram; and I hef
seen a great many men and women. And as for the money--well, as for
the money, I hef plenty for my Sheila, and she will not starve when I
die--no, nor before that, either; and as for the poor old woman that
has died, I am ferry glad she left her money to one that will make a
good use of it, and will not throw it away whatever."

"Oh, but you know, Mr. Mackenzie, you are congratulating me without
cause. I must tell you how the matter stands. The money does not
belong to me at all: Mrs. Lavender never intended it should. It was
meant to go to Sheila--"

"Oh, I know, I know," said Mr. Mackenzie with a wave of his hand. "I
wass hearing all that from the woman at the house. But how will you
know what Mrs. Lavender intended? You hef only that woman's story of
it. And here is the will, and you hef the money, and--and--" Mackenzie
hesitated for a moment, and then said with a sudden vehemence, "--and,
by Kott, you shall keep it!"

Ingram was a trifle startled. "But look here, sir," he said in a tone
of expostulation, "you make a mistake. I myself know Mrs. Lavender's
intentions. I don't go by any story of Mrs. Paterson's. Mrs. Lavender
made over the money to me with express injunctions to place it at the
disposal of Sheila whenever I should see fit. Oh, there's no mistake
about it, so you need not protest, sir. If the money belonged to me, I
should be delighted to keep it. No man in the country more desires
to be rich than I; so don't fancy I am flinging away a fortune out of
generosity. If any rich and kind-hearted old lady will send me five
thousand or ten thousand pounds, you will see how I shall stick to it.
But the simple truth is, this money is not mine at all. It was never
intended to be mine. It belongs to Sheila."

Ingram talked in a very matter-of-fact way: the old man feared what he
said was true.

"Ay, it is a ferry good story," said Mackenzie cautiously, "and maybe
it is all true. And you wass saying you would like to hef money?"

"I most decidedly should like to have money."

"Well, then," said the old man, watching his friend's face, "there iss
no one to say that the story is true, and who will believe it? And
if Shei