one last jab,
even if she had to wait till she was dead and gone to do it."

Like an infuriated beast Martin tramped the floor. Mr. Benton did not
speak for a few moments; then he observed mildly:

"You understand that if you refuse to accept the property it will be
turned over to the county for a poor farm."

"I don't care who it's turned over to, or what becomes of it," blustered
Martin.

The attorney rubbed his hands. Ah, it was a spirited drama,--quite as
spirited as he had anticipated, and as interesting too.

"It's pretty rough on the girl," he at last remarked casually.

"The girl?"

"Miss Webster."

Violently Martin came to himself. The fury of his anger had until now
swept every other consideration from his mind.

"It will mean turning Miss Webster out of doors, of course," continued Mr.
Benton impassively. "Still she's a thoroughbred, and I fancy nothing her
aunt could do would surprise her. In fact, she as good as told me that,
when she was at my office this morning."

"She knows, then?"

"Yes, I had to tell her, poor thing. I imagine, too, it hit her pretty
hard, for she had been given to understand that everything was to be hers.
She hasn't much in her own right; her aunt told me that."

An icy hand suddenly gripped Martin's heart. He stood immovable, as if
stunned. Lucy! Lucy penniless and homeless because of him!

Little by little Ellen's evil scheme unfolded itself before his
consciousness. He saw the cunning of the intrigue which the initial
outburst of his wrath had obscured. There was more involved in his
decision than his own inclinations. He was not free simply to flout the
legacy and toss it angrily aside. Ellen, a Richelieu to the last, had him
in a trap that wrenched and wrecked every sensibility of his nature. The
more he thought about the matter, the more chaotic his impulses became.
Justice battled against will; pity against vengeance; love against hate;
and as the warring factors strove and tore at one another, and grappled in
an anguish of suffering, from out the turmoil two forces rose
unconquerable and stubbornly confronted one another,--the opposing forces
of Love and Pride. There they stood, neither of them willing to yield.
While Love pleaded for mercy, Pride urged the destruction of every gentler
emotion and clamored for revenge.

Mr. Benton was not a subtle interpreter of human nature, but in the face
of the man before him he saw enough to realize the fierceness of t