et tired of waiting."

"You don't understand, father. Mr. Spence wants me to agree never to
touch any of it. He doesn't think it right for people to keep more than
a certain amount, just enough to provide for their actual needs. It is
one of the principles he believes in. It is a part of his system."

"Principles! System! Is the girl crazy?"

"It is opposed to all your ideas, I know," I exclaimed earnestly,
determined now that I had entered on the matter to dispute it with
vigor. "But are you sure that you are in the right? What is the use of
so much money to a woman? You want me to make the most of the fortune it
has taken you all your life to get together. Is it not possible that in
renouncing it I should be doing that? New ideas have to encounter
opposition, but they are not all to be presumed unsound on that account.
There may be more sense in those of Mr. Spence than you suppose. By
setting this example of moderation, I may be able to give an impetus to
truth that will be of real service to mankind. Besides, women are
different from men, father. They find more comfort and happiness in
devotion to something like this than in the practical details of life. I
have had some experience. I have seen society, and know the weariness of
a merely social existence. As I have already told you, I believe I
should be more content with Mr. Spence than with any one else. I need
sympathy and an interest. I _am_ morbid, perhaps; but there is every
chance of my becoming more so unless you let me have my way in this
matter. Leave your money to some deserving charity or college, father,
and let me marry Mr. Spence."

"Deserving charity or college! That from the lips of my own daughter! I
have wanted to interrupt you a dozen times to tell you how foolish and
senseless is the rubbish you were talking. And now that I have heard you
to the end, I am speechless. You are crazy! I repeat it, crazy! You are
fit only for a convent or a lunatic asylum. I had better find another
heir."

He covered his face with his hands, and I could see his whole form
tremble.

"Father," I cried, "if I were only sure that you are not mistaken!"

We sat without another word being spoken for many minutes. At last he
lay back in his chair with the weary air intensified which I had noticed
when I told him of Mr. Spence's offer, and said in a tone in harmony
with that,--

"You have been brought up, Virginia, like all American girls, to have
your own way. I