hands with her, and thereupon Uncle James,
feeling forced for decency's sake to do something, observed pointedly:
"I suppose Miss Victoria Bench was quite sane when she made this
bequest?"

"I should say that your supposition was correct," said the lawyer.
"Miss Victoria Bench always seemed to me to be an eminently sane
person."

There was no allusion whatever to Uncle James in Aunt Victoria's will.
She thanked her niece, Caroline Caldwell, kindly for the shelter she
had given her in her misfortune, and hoped that by providing for Beth
she would relieve her mother's mind of all anxiety about the child, to
whom, she proceeded to state, she left all she had in proof of the
tender affection she felt for the child, and in return for the
disinterested love and duty she had received from Beth. Aunt Victoria
wished Beth to have her room when she was gone, in order that Beth
might, as she grew up, have proper privacy in her life, with
undisturbed leisure for study, reflection, and prayer. She added that
she considered Beth a child of exceptional temperament, that peculiar
care and kindness would be necessary to develop her character; but
Miss Victoria hoped, prayed, and believed that, with the help of the
excellent abilities with which she had been endowed, Beth would not
only work out her own salvation eventually, but do something notable
to the glory of God and for the good of mankind.

Beth's heart glowed when she heard this passage, and ever afterwards,
when she recalled it, she felt strangely stimulated.

After the last solemn words of the will had been read, and the little
scene of congratulation had been enacted, there was a pause in the
proceedings, then Uncle James remarked in his happiest manner: "The
importance which old ladies attach to their little bequests is only to
be equalled by the strength of their sentiments, and the grandeur of
the language in which they are expressed. One would think a
principality was being bequeathed to a princess, instead of a few
pounds to an obscure little girl, to judge by the tone of the whole
document. Well, well!"

Beth looked at him, then drew down the corners of her mouth
impertinently. "There is one thing I can console you with, Uncle
James," she said. "You may be quite sure that when I do come into my
kingdom, I shall carefully conceal the fact that I am any relation of
yours."

Later in the day, Beth found her mother sitting in her accustomed
place by the dining-tab