ir, and owing to the death of your aunt the
following year who left you her sole heir, you became vested with all
the known interest in certain valuable real estate that had belonged to
your ancestors for many generations--what was known then as 'Clark's
Field.' As you are probably aware, this property, after many years of
disuse and much litigation, has finally been cleared as to title and put
upon the market. It has been sold, or much of it, for large prices. For
in all these years its value has very greatly increased--ten and
twentyfold."

He paused for a moment, then with an unaccustomed sternness he
resumed,--

"Clark's Field is no longer the pasture land of an outlying farm. In the
course of all these years the city has grown up to it and around it.
Generations of men have been born, come into activity, and died,
increasing in numbers all the time, demanding more and more room for
homes and places of business. Thus the value of real estate has greatly
risen, latterly doubling and trebling almost each year."

He stopped again, and the bored trust officer thought, "The old fellow
is worse than ever to-day--getting positively dotty--likes to hear
himself talk...."

"For thus," resumed the judge slowly, impressively, "is the nature of
man, of the civilization he has created. Men must have room--land to
grow upon; and that which was of little or no value becomes by the
economic accidents of life of exceedingly great importance because of
its necessity to the race.... Your forefathers, Mrs. Davis, got their
own living from the farm of which this piece of land--Clark's Field--was
a part; a meager living for themselves and their families they got by
tilling the poor soil. They were content with taking a living out of it
for themselves and their families. Indeed, if I am not mistaken, your
own grandfather was anxious to sell this same field, which was all that
was left to him of the ancestral farm, for a comparatively small sum of
ready money--five thousand dollars."

Adelle had time to reflect that this was the exact sum on which she and
Archie had tried to live for a year, with considerable inconvenience.
But then everybody said times had changed, and you couldn't do now with
a thousand dollars what you could once.

"Fortunately for you, Mrs. Davis," the judge was saying with a dry
little smile, "your grandfather was unable to carry out his intention of
disposing of Clark's Field for five thousand dollars. Nor wer