en times if I choose before I'm through with it.
Now listen to me." The woman spoke sharply.

Eugene listened, wondering the while what sort of lightning-rod she
carried, to speak with such assurance of all she meant to do before she
was through with the transactions of this life. Uncle Cornie had not
been so well defended.

"I want you to write to Jerry to come home. You can pay her expenses.
She will take the money quicker from you than from me. She's as proud as
Lucifer in some things, once she's set. But she's in love with you, and
where a girl's in love she listens."

Eugene looked up quickly. "Are you sure?" he asked, eagerly.

"Of course I am! Why shouldn't I know love when I see it?" Mrs. Darby
inquired.

Yes, why?

"But you mustn't give in, nor plead with her. Just tell her how well
fixed you are, and how much she is missing here, and that you will wait
her time, only she must come back, and promise to stay here, or I'll cut
my will to bits, I certainly shall. I'll write myself to York
Macpherson. He's level-headed and honorable as truth. If he was dead in
love with Jerry himself--as he no doubt is by this time--he'd just put
it all away if he found out he was denying me my rights. I'll put it up
to his honor. And so with him at that end of the line, and you here, and
me really moving the chessmen, it can't be a losing game, Eugene. It
simply can't. Jerry may not get tired of her new playthings right away,
but she will after a while. It isn't natural for her to take to a life
so awfully different from her bringing up. When the new wears off she'll
come home, even if necessity didn't drive her, as it's bound to sooner
or later. She's nearly out of money right now, and she can't sponge off
the Macphersons forever and be Jim Swaim's child. Is everything clear to
you now?"

Eugene threw away his cigarette and lighted a fresh one, his face the
while as expressionless as ever the dry, dull face of Cornelius Darby
had been. At last he answered:

"Mrs. Darby has made a will, presumably in favor of her niece, Geraldine
Swaim--a will subject to replacement by any number of wills creating
other beneficiaries. In any event, Mrs. Darby proposes to have a voice
in the final disposition of her property."

Mrs. Darby nodded emphatically. "I certainly do."

Eugene smiled approval of such good judgment. "You are right, Mrs.
Darby. What is your own you should control, always. But, frankly, Aunt
Jerry, it is Geraldine