shton walked away, coming
back a moment later with two porch chairs, which he placed near his
sister's larger one.

"Sit down again, please, Betty," he asked. "I realize that we have very
little time, but I think it better that you should hear at once what Mr.
Graham has come all the way across the ocean to tell you." And Dick's
face was so queer that it was quite impossible to tell what his emotions
might be, so that Betty clutched the sides of her chair, white and
frightened.

"Yes, please, if it is bad news, tell me at once," she whispered.

Anthony Graham's smile, appearing now for the first time, was
immediately reassuring.

"But it is not bad news and we should not have frightened you," he began
at once. "It is news that almost anybody in the world would be more
than happy to hear. Judge Maynard has left you the greatest part of his
fortune, which will amount to about fifty thousand dollars, I believe,
and as he made me his executor, I have come over to try and make matters
clear to you and your mother and brother."

[Illustration: "FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS TO ME!"]

"Fifty thousand dollars to me!" Betty Ashton heard the tones of her own
voice distinctly and yet was hardly conscious of what she was saying.
"Why, what could have influenced Judge Maynard to leave me so much
money? I simply can't understand it."

"You don't have to understand it, Miss Betty; you just have to accept
and enjoy it," Anthony argued. "But some day when we have more time I
should like to tell you some of the things Judge Maynard said to me at
about the time he was writing his last will. He was a peculiar,
childless old man and he had always been more fond of you than you or
any member of your family dreamed. And after your father's death, when
you went on so cheerfully with your life in spite of the change in your
fortune, he made up his mind to look after your future."

"But you, Anthony. Polly told me that it was to you the Judge had taken
such a great fancy that most of the people in Woodford expected him to
make _you_ his heir. I cannot take your inheritance."

Anthony Graham laughed, at the same moment getting up from his chair. "I
have to take the next train back to Berlin, but I mean to see you
tonight at Miss Esther's concert. And please, Dr. Ashton, won't you
explain to your sister that she cannot take from me an inheritance which
I never had nor dreamed of having. Judge Maynard believed that a man
should make his own way