ed his. Leaning suddenly forward he grasped her wrists ere
she was aware of his intention, and drew her in front of him.

"Pardon me; but I want a good look at you."

His keen merciless eyes searched every feature, and he deliberately
lifted and examined the exquisitely shaped strong, white hands, the
dainty nails, and delicately rounded wrists with their violet tracery
of veins. It cost her an effort, to abstain from wrenching herself
free; but her mother's caution: "So much depends on the impression you
make upon father," girded her to submit to his critical inspection.

A grim smile crossed his face, as he watched her.

"Blood often doubles, like a fox; sometimes 'crops back,' but never
lies. You can't play out your role of pauper; and you don't look a
probable outcome of destitution and hard work. Your hands would fit
much better in a metope of the Elgin Marbles, than in a wash-tub, or a
bake-oven."

Drawing away quickly, she put them behind her, and felt her palms
tingle.

"It is expected I should believe that for some time past, you have
provided for your own, and your mother's wants. In what way?"

"By coloring photographs; by furnishing designs for Christmas and
Easter cards, and occasionally (not often), by selling drawings used
for decorating china, and wallpaper. At one time, I had regular pay for
singing in a choir, but diphtheria injured my throat, and when I partly
recovered my voice, the situation had been given to another person."

"I am informed also that before long, you intend to astonish the world
with a wonderful picture, which shall distance such laggards as Troyon,
Dore, and Ary Scheffer?"

She was looking, not at him, but out through the glass door, at the
glowing western sky, where distant pine trees printed their
silhouettes. Now her gaze came back to his face, and he noted a faint
quiver in her full throat.

"If God will mercifully spare my mother to me, my loftiest and holiest
ambition shall be to distance the wolfish cares and woes that have
hunted her, ever since she became a widow. Any and all honest labor
that can contribute to her comfort, will be welcome and sweet to me."

"The laws of heredity must be occult and complex. The offspring of a
rebellious and disobedient child, is certainly entitled to no filial
instincts; and some day the strain will tell, and you will overwhelm
your mother with ingratitude, black as that which she showed me."

"When I do, may God eternally f