ke me--not very much, you know, because they
thought I wasn't quiet and ladylike enough. Still I don't think they
really disliked me."

"No, I think in their way they liked you, Mabel; and perhaps if Mr.
Penfold had half left his property to you, divided the other half
between them the will would have been found. But they certainly did
not like Ralph Conway. They disliked him partly no doubt for himself,
but principally on account of a wrong which I believe they once did to
his mother. Now, it is in human nature, Mabel, that you may forgive a
wrong done to you, but it is very hard to forgive a person you have
wronged. Anyhow, I am convinced that it was more to prevent Mrs.
Conway's son from getting this money than to get it themselves that
they have concealed this will, or rather that they refuse to point out
its place of concealment."

"But it does seem hard, papa, that Mr. Penfold should have left
everything to Ralph and me and nothing to his sisters."

"The Miss Penfolds have a very comfortable income of their own, Mabel,
and their brother might very well have thought there was no occasion
for them to have more; beside, although they lived in his house, and
indeed managed it and him, Mr. Penfold had, I know, strong reason to
believe that they had ruined his life. But this is a matter into which
we need not go. Well, Mabel, the Miss Penfolds have just given a proof
that they do not dislike you. Now I will read you this letter, because
I think you ought to know it has been written, and I will then tell
you the reasons why your mother and I think that the offer cannot be
accepted."

Mabel listened in silence until her father had finished the arguments
he had used with his wife, with the exception only of that relating to
the Miss Penfolds' motives in putting in the condition concerning
Mabel's marriage. When he ceased speaking she exclaimed indignantly,
"Of course, papa, we could not take the money, not if it were ten
times as much! Why, we could not look Mrs. Conway and Ralph in the
face again! Beside, how could we speak to people one believes to have
done such a wicked thing?"

"Very well, Mabel. I was quite sure that you would agree with us, but
at the same time I thought it was right before we refused the offer
you should know that it was made. Whatever our sentiments on the
subject might be, we should not have been justified in refusing
without your knowledge an offer that might, from a worldly point of
view