er age."

"I don't want any trouble about this business, Mr. Checkynshaw; so I
thought I would come up and see you. Perhaps you can show me some
letters from Marguerite, or something else that will convince Fitz that
she is alive."

"I have no letters here."

"Have you any at your house?" asked Mrs. Wittleworth.

"Not that I am aware of. I never preserve any but business letters. If
I understand you, Ellen, Fitz's modest claim is for the block of stores
and the income of them for the last ten years."

"That's what he said."

"Are you aware of the amount of this claim?" asked the banker,
nervously.

"I don't know, exactly."

"I suppose not," said Mr. Checkynshaw, pausing to reflect. "I don't
wish to bring Marguerite home till her education is completed, and this
thing may cause me some annoyance."

"I'm sure I don't want to annoy you," pleaded Mrs. Wittleworth.

"Perhaps you do not; but Fitz does. If you refuse to be a party to this
suit, of course he can do nothing. He has no rights yet in the premises
himself, and he is under age."

"I think myself the matter ought to be settled up somehow or other,"
replied Mrs. Wittleworth, timidly. "I am so poor I can hardly keep soul
and body together, and Fitz has lost his place."

"I will give him his place, at ten dollars a week. I will see that you
have a good house, properly furnished, and a sufficient income to live
on. If I had known that you were so badly off, I should have done
something for you before. Why didn't you come to me?"

"I don't like to ask favors; besides, we have been able to get along
till times came on so hard this winter that I couldn't get any work."

"I don't wish to be bothered with this thing, and be compelled to go to
France in the middle of the winter after Marguerite. Fitz saw that he
could annoy me, and he has taken this means to vent his spite upon me.
But the suit depends upon you. He can do nothing without you. Mr.
Choate will have nothing to do with it. He doesn't take cases of this
kind; but Fitz can find some unprincipled lawyer who will undertake the
case, and compel me to derange my plans."

"Could you show me some letters from Marguerite, or some bill you have
paid for her board or tuition?"

"Perhaps I may be able to find something of the kind at my house. I'll
see. But I think we had better settle up this business between
ourselves, without Fitz."

Mr. Checkynshaw looked troubled, and Mrs. Wittleworth could see it n