driven into it, she is being sacrificed to--"

"Just one moment, Braden," interrupted Mrs. Tresslyn, curtly. "I may as
well set you quite straight in the matter. It will save time and put an
end to recriminations. My daughter does not care the snap of her fingers
for Mr. Thorpe. I think she loves you quite as dearly now as she ever did.
At any rate, she says she does. But that is neither here nor there. She is
going to marry Mr. Thorpe, and of her own volition. I have advised her to
do so, I will admit, but I have not driven her to it, as you say. No one
but a fool would expect her to love that old man. He doesn't ask it of
her. He simply asks her to marry him. Nowadays people do not always marry
for love. In fact, they frequently marry to avoid it--at least for the time
being. Your grandfather has told you of the marriage settlement. It is to
be two million dollars, set apart for her, to be hers in full right on the
day that he dies. We are far from rich, Anne and I. My husband was a
failure--but you know our circumstances quite well enough without my going
into them. My daughter is her own mistress. She is twenty-three. She is
able to choose for herself. It pleases her to choose the grandfather
instead of the grandson. Is that perfectly plain to you? If it is, my boy,
then I submit that there is nothing further to be said. The situation is
surely clear enough for even you to see. We do not pretend to be doing
anything noble. Mr. Thorpe is seventy-seven. That is the long and short of
it."

"In plain English, it's the money you are after," said he, with a sneer.

"Obviously," said she, with the utmost candour. "Young women of twenty-
three do not marry old men of seventy-seven for love. You may imagine a
young girl marrying a penniless youth for love, but can you picture her
marrying a penniless octogenarian for the same reason? I fancy not. I
speak quite frankly to you, Braden, and without reserve. We have always
been friends. It would be folly to attempt to delude you into believing
that a sentimental motive is back of our--shall we say enterprise?"

"Yes, that is what I would call it," said he levelly. "It is a more
refined word than scheme."

"The world will be grateful for the opportunity to bear me out in all that
I have said to you," she went on. "It will cheerfully, even gleefully
supply any of the little details I may have considered unnecessary or
superfluous in describing the situation. You are at liberty