he fact is simply this," resumed Donal: "I do not want the Morven
property. I thank God for lady Arctura: what was hers I do not desire."

"But may it not be your duty to take it, Mr. Grant?--Pardon me for
suggesting duty to one who always acts from it."

"I have reflected, and do not think God wants me to take it. Because
she is mine, ought I of necessity to be enslaved to all her accidents?
Must I, because I love her, hoard her gowns and shoes?"

Then first Miss Graeme noted that he never spoke of his wife as in the
past.

"But there are others to be considered," she replied. "You have made me
think about many things, Mr. Grant! My brother and I have had many
talks as to what we would do if the land were ours."

"And yours it shall be," said Donal, "if you will take it as a trust
for the good of all whom it supports. I have other work to do."

"I will tell my brother what you say," answered Miss Graeme, with
victory in her heart--for was it not as she had divined?

"It is better," continued Donal, "to help make good men than happy
tenants. Besides, I know how to do the one, and I do not know how to do
the other. There would always be a prejudice against me too, as not to
the manner born. But if your brother should accept my offer, I hope he
will not think me interfering if I talk sometimes of the principles of
the relation. Things go wrong, generally, because men have such absurd
and impossible notions about possession. They call things their own
which it is impossible, from their very nature, ever to possess or make
their own. Power was never given to man over men for his own sake, and
the nearer he that so uses it comes to success, the more utter will
prove his discomfiture. Talk to your brother about it, Miss Graeme.
Tell him that, as heir to the title, and as head of the family, he can
do more than any other with the property, and I will gladly make it
over to him without reserve. I would not be even partially turned aside
from my own calling."

"I will tell him what you say. I told him he had misunderstood you. I
saw into your generous thought."

"It is not generous at all. My dear Miss Graeme, you do not know how
little of a temptation such things are to me! There are some who only
care to inherit straight from the first Father. You may say the earth
is the Lord's, and therefore a part of that first inheritance: I admit
it; but such possession as this in question would not satisfy me in the
least. I mu