t put an end
to the ridiculous idea you have of giving up Crowswood. Your father has
made me rich beyond anything I could possibly have expected from him.
I suddenly find myself a wealthy man, and I can buy another estate for
myself worth more than Crowswood if inclined to settle down as a squire;
therefore your theory that I have been disappointed in not inheriting
what I thought was my father's estate falls to the ground altogether. In
no case would I ever have accepted your sacrifice. If you had liked to
hand it over to St. Bartholomew's or Guy's Hospital, or to give it away
to any other charity, I would not have prevented you, but I would never
have accepted it for myself. Now, thank goodness, the question cannot
arise; for you must see that, even looking at the matter from a purely
business point of view, I have benefited to an enormous and altogether
unexpected extent by your father's will, and if any contest between us
could arise it should be on the ground that he has acted unfairly to you
by giving me so large a proportion of the money that, in the course of
nature, you should have inherited. It was not even as if he had known
and liked me, for I was but four years old at the time he wrote the
letter saying that I was to share the money and jewels with you."

"You are very obstinate and very disagreeable, Mark," she said, with
tears in her eyes.

"I think the obstinacy has been principally on your side, Millicent;
though certainly I should not think of saying that you have been
disagreeable. It has been an excess of kindheartedness on your part,
and you have resolutely closed your eyes to the fact that, had I been
willing to take advantage of your generosity, I should have lacked the
courage to do so, for I should have been pointed at wherever I went,
as a mean fellow who took advantage of his little cousin's romantic
generosity. Pray, dear, let us say no more about it. We are two rich
young people; we have both an estate; yours, I grant, is the larger,
but if I choose I can increase mine, until it is quite as large as
Crowswood. We can be better friends than we have been for the last year,
because this point of dispute has always stood between us and made us
uncomfortable. Now you will have to think over what you would like done,
and whether you wish any change made in your manner of living."

"Did you tell Mr. Cotter," Millicent laughed, after a pause, "that I had
a half share in the money?"

"No, that wa