id he send no message to me of any kind?"

"None. When I handed him the order, he pushed it back, and used
the words I have repeated. I waited a little while for some further
remark, but he made none."

"Did he seem angry?"

"Not angry; but rather pleased, I should say. There was a heartless
smile on his face, as if he enjoyed the act of refusal."

Claire made no further remark. For a time he groped about, mentally,
like one in darkness and lost. It appeared as if there was no escape;
as if the evil which had long dogged his steps was upon him. But in a
short time, a ray of light shone in here and there, paths that might
be walked in safely were dimly perceived--escape seemed possible.
Still, he was deeply depressed and sorely troubled.

Edith received the intelligence in a calmer spirit than her husband
had expected.

"The way will be made plain before us," said she. "It is plainer now
than it was last night--much plainer."

"How can you say that, Edith?"

"Mr. Jasper has refused to pay any thing more to us for Fanny's
support."

"Yes."

"But in the refusal said nothing about our giving her up to him."

"Well?"

"I gather from this, and the fact that he was aware of her being
twelve years old, that he does not really want her now in his own
family, but refuses to pay us for her board and education from a
feeling of ill-will toward you. His manner to the young man who
presented the order clearly indicates this."

"You may be right there, Edith," said Claire, a further light breaking
into his mind. "We have at least done our duty toward Fanny in making
this demand on her guardian. And now, the question left for us to
decide may be whether it will be just toward her, and also toward our
own children, still to keep her in our own family, and let her share,
with the others, the best that it is in our power to give."

"And will it be hard to make that decision?" said Edith, a slight
flush coming into her earnest face.

"I think not," was the firm reply.

"Have we loved her less than our own?" asked Edith.

"I believe not."

"Love seeks the highest good for its object."

"Yes--yes."

"Can a stranger love the child as we have loved her?"

Claire shook his head.

"Can a stranger, even with more of what the world gives, yet with less
of a genuine affection, secure for her, as we may, what should justly
be regarded as the highest good in life."

"No stranger can ever be to her, Edith, what you have