she said. "The five thousand pounds is the
acknowledgment on your father's side of what I have done for him. The
words in the will are the acknowledgment on yours."

A faint smile flickered over his face for the first time. It comforted
him, on reflection, to think that matters might have been worse. There
was balm for his wounded spirit in paying the debt of gratitude by a
sentence not negotiable at his banker's. Whatever his father might have
done, _he_ had got Lecount a bargain, after all!

"A little more writing, sir," resumed Mrs. Lecount, "and your painful
but necessary duty will be performed. The trifling matter of my legacy
being settled, we may come to the important question that is left. The
future direction of a large fortune is now waiting your word of command.
To whom is it to go?"

He began to writhe again in his chair. Even under the all-powerful
fascination of his wife the parting with his money on paper had not been
accomplished without a pang. He had endured the pang; he had resigned
himself to the sacrifice. And now here was the dreaded ordeal again,
awaiting him mercilessly for the second time!

"Perhaps it may assist your decision, sir, if I repeat a question which
I have put to you already," observed Mrs. Lecount. "In the will that
you made under your wife's influence, to whom did you leave the surplus
money which remained at your own disposal?"

There was no harm in answering the question now. He acknowledged that he
had left the money to his cousin George.

"You could have done nothing better, Mr. Noel; and you can do nothing
better now," said Mrs. Lecount. "Mr. George and his two sisters are your
only relations left. One of those sisters is an incurable invalid, with
more than money enough already for all the wants which her affliction
allows her to feel. The other is the wife of a man even richer than
yourself. To leave the money to these sisters is to waste it. To leave
the money to their brother George is to give your cousin exactly the
assistance which he will want when he one day inherits his uncle's
dilapidated house and his uncle's impoverished estate. A will which
names the admiral your executor and Mr. George your heir is the right
will for you to make. It does honor to the claims of friendship, and it
does justice to the claims of blood."

She spoke warmly; for she spoke with a grateful remembrance of all that
she herself owed to the hospitality of St. Crux. Noel Vanstone took