nt of assent.

"But--at last--I took them. In the final interview I had with Melrose, he
threatened me with the cancelling of his will, unless I consented--Tatham
has told you--to sell him my uncle's gems. I refused. And so far as words
could, he there and then stripped me of his property. It is by the mere
accident of his murder at that precise moment that it has come to me. Now
then--what is to be done?"

Her hand slipped further into his. For a few minutes he seemed to be
absorbed in the silent reconstruction of past trains of thought, emerging
with a cry--though it was under his breath:

"If I took his money now--against his will--I should feel his yoke--his
hateful yoke--again, on my neck! I should be his slave still."

"You shall not take it!" she said with passion.

He smiled at her suddenly.

"It is nothing to Lydia, to be poor?"

"And free--and happy--and alive!--no, nothing!"

At that he could only draw her to him again. She herself must needs bring
him back to the point.

"You have decided?"

"I could of course refuse the succession. That would throw the whole
property into Chancery; the personalty would go to the mother and
daughter, the real estate to whatever legal heirs could be discovered.
There are same distant cousins of Lady Tatham, I believe. However--that
did not attract me at all."

He rose from his seat beside her, and stood looking down upon her.

"You'll realize?--you'll understand?--that it seems to me just--and
desirable--that I should have some voice in the distribution of this
money, this and land, rather than leave it all to the action of a court.
Everything--as things are--is legally mine. The personalty is immense;
there are about thirty thousand acres of land, here and elsewhere; and
the collections can't be worth much less than half a million. I decline
to own them; but I intend to settle what becomes of them! Nash and others
say they will dispute the will. They won't. There is no case. As to the
personalty and the land--well, well, you'll see! As to the collections--I
mean to make them, if I can, of some use to the community. And in that
effort"--he spoke slowly--"I want you to help me!"

Their eyes met; hers full of tears. She tried to speak, and could not. He
came to kneel down by her and took her in his arms.

"Did you think I had sold myself to the devil last time I was here?"

"I was so harsh!--forgive ..." she said brokenly.

"No. You called things by their rig