when Henry next spoke, he said very calmly,
"Well, I'm glad on Mary's account, for your aunt will undoubtedly
share her fortune with her;" and Henry's eyes turned upon Ella with a
deeper meaning than she could divine.

It was so long since Ella had felt the need of money that she had
almost ceased to know its value, and besides this, she had no
suspicion of Henry's motive in questioning her; so she carelessly
replied that nothing had been said on the subject, though she presumed
her aunt would make Mary heiress with herself, as she had recently
taken a violent fancy to her. Here the conversation flagged, and Henry
fell into a musing mood, from which Ella was forced to rouse him when
it was time to go. As if their thoughts were flowing in the same
channel, Mrs. Campbell that evening was thinking of Mary, and trying
to devise some means by which to atone for neglecting her so long.
Suddenly a new idea occurred to her, upon which she determined
immediately to act, and the next morning Mr. Worthington was sent for,
to draw up a new will, in which Mary Howard was to share equally with
her sister.

"Half of all I own is theirs by right," said she, "and what I want is,
that on their 21st birth-day they shall come into possession of the
portion which ought to have been their mother's, while at my death the
remainder shall be equally divided between them."

The will was accordingly drawn up, signed and sealed, Mr. Worthington
keeping a rough draft of it, which was thrown among some loose papers
in his office. A few afterwards Henry coming accidentally upon it,
read it without any hesitation.

"_That_ settles it at once," said he, "and I can't say I'm sorry, for
I was getting horribly sick of her. Now I'd willingly marry Mary
without a penny, but Ella, with only one quarter as much as I
expected, and that not until she's twenty-one, is a different matter
entirely. But what am I to do? I wish Moreland was here, for though he
don't like me (and I wonder who does), he wouldn't mind lending me a
few thousand. Well, there's no help for it; and the sooner the old man
breaks now, the better. It'll help me out of a deuced mean scrape, for
of course I shall be _magnanimous_, and release Ella at once from her
engagement with a _ruined man_."

The news that Mary was Mrs. Campbell's niece spread rapidly, and among
those who came to congratulate her, none was more sincere than William
Bender. Mary was very dear to him, and whatever con