his fine old place by the death
of their aunt it had seemed a doubtful blessing. There was not a cent
with which to pay for repairs and taxes and insurance, except the
twelve hundred dollars which they had obtained from the sale of the
little house in which they had been born and lived all their lives.
There had been a division in the old Ackley family years before. One
of the daughters had married against her mother's wish and had been
disinherited. She had married a poor man by the name of Gill, and
shared his humble lot in sight of her former home and her sister and
mother living in prosperity, until she had borne three daughters; then
she died, worn out with overwork and worry.

The mother and the elder sister had been pitiless to the last. Neither
had ever spoken to her since she left her home the night of her
marriage. They were hard women.

The three daughters of the disinherited sister had lived quiet and
poor, but not actually needy lives. Jane, the middle daughter, had
married, and died in less than a year. Amanda and Sophia had taken the
girl baby she left when the father married again. Sophia had taught a
primary school for many years; she had saved enough to buy the little
house in which they lived. Amanda had crocheted lace, and embroidered
flannel, and made tidies and pincushions, and had earned enough for her
clothes and the child's, little Flora Scott.

Their father, William Gill, had died before they were thirty, and now
in their late middle life had come the death of the aunt to whom they
had never spoken, although they had often seen her, who had lived in
solitary state in the old Ackley mansion until she was more than
eighty. There had been no will, and they were the only heirs with the
exception of young Flora Scott, the daughter of the dead sister.

Sophia and Amanda thought directly of Flora when they knew of the
inheritance.

"It will be a splendid thing for her; she will have enough to live on
when we are gone," Sophia said.

She had promptly decided what was to be done. The small house was to
be sold, and they were to move into the old Ackley house and take
boarders to pay for its keeping. She scouted the idea of selling it.
She had an enormous family pride. She had always held her head high
when she had walked past that fine old mansion, the cradle of her race,
which she was forbidden to enter. She was unmoved when the lawyer who
was advising her disclosed to her the fact t