I thought from the
piece in the paper that the money was all ready for us."

"You mustn't be so impatient," soothingly responded Mr. Jayres, laying
his fat finger on his fat cheek and smiling softly. "All in good time.
All in good time. The money's where it's safe. You only need to
establish your right to it. We must fetch a suit in the Court of
Chancery, and that I'll do at once upon looking up the facts. Of
course--er--there'll be a little fee."

"A little what?" said Mr. Tobey.

"A little which?" said Mrs. Tobey.

[Illustration: "A LITTLE FEE," SAID MR. JAYRES, SMILING SWEETLY.]

"A little fee," said Mr. Jayres, smiling sweetly. "A mere trifle, I
assure you; just enough to defray expenses--say--er--a hundred dollars."

"Oh, dear me!" cried Mrs. Tobey. "This is vexing. To think of coming
down town, Tobey, dear, with the expectations of going back rich, and
then going back a hundred dollars poorer than we were. I really don't
think we'd better do it, Tobey?"

"Ah," said Mr. Jayres, "but think also of the fortune. Two millions and
a half! Isn't that worth spending a few hundred dollars for? Just put
your mind on it, ma'am."

"I've had my mind on it ever since I seen your piece in the paper,"
replied Mrs. Tobey, "and a hundred dollars does seem, as you say, little
enough to pay for two millions and a half, which would be all I'd ask or
wish for, and would put us where we belong, Tobey, which is not in the
laundry line competing with an unscrupulous party across the street,
though I don't mention names, which perhaps I ought, for the public
ought to be warned. It's a party that hasn't any honor at all--"

"I'm sure not," said Mr. Jayres sympathetically. "He is, without doubt,
a dirty dog."

"Oh, it isn't a he," Mrs. Tobey replied, "the party is a her."

[Illustration: "THE PARTY IS A HER," SAID MRS. TOBEY.]

"Of course, of course," said Mr. Jayres. "And to think that you have to
put up with the tricks of a female party directly across the street.
Why, it's shameful, ma'am! But if you had that two millions, as you just
observed, all that would be over."

"Two million and a half I thought you said it was," said Mrs. Tobey
rather sharply.

"Oh, yes, and a half--and a half," the lawyer admitted in a tone of
indifference, as much as to say that there should be no haggling about
the odd $500,000. "What a pretty pile it is, Mrs. Tobey?"

"I don't know, Tobey, but what we'd better do it," Mrs. Tobey said after