ed mediums? Raising the dead to tell you what to do? Bah! If you
had asked me, now--"

Laidley had drawn himself up in the chair, his watery eyes gathering a
faint eagerness: "Sit down. Here. I wish to speak to you, judge. Nobody
will hear us."

"Certainly. As you ask me now--I know the whole case. Don't try to talk:
it only makes you cough. You want to say that the property--"

"I want to say nothing about the property. My will was made last week. I
am determined to throw my means into that channel where it will best
contribute to God's service. He will not scorn a late repentance. But
Van Ness--it was about Van Ness I wanted to talk to you."

"If your will was made last week, why did you try to bring back poor
dead Virginie to advise you?"

"I don't know," said Laidley, coughing nervously--"I don't know. I
thought she would confirm me--I--I want to be just to her daughter, God
knows!"

"What is your idea of justice?"

"Why this--this," eagerly, catching the judge's red, fat hand in his
cold fingers. "Jane will be a woman whom Van Ness would be apt to
approve. I know he's fastidious. But she's very delicate and fair--as
fine a bit of human flesh as I ever saw. As for mind, she has none. A
mere child. He could mould her--mould her. Eh? I think I could throw out
an inducement which would lead him to look favorably on her--when she's
of a marriageable age, that is. If the girl were married to such a man
as Van Ness, surely she would be well placed for life. Nobody could
blame me for not making an heiress of her."

"Jane? Van Ness?" said the judge thoughtfully. "Well, Van Ness is a man
whom any woman in the country should be proud to marry. But he is
impregnable to that sort of thing. And Jane is but a child, as you say.
The scheme seems to me utterly unfeasible, Laidley. Besides, what has it
to do with her claims on you?"

"It has everything to do with them. I give her instead of money a home
and husband such as no money can buy. They must be brought together,
judge. You must do it. I have a word to say to Van Ness that will open
his eyes to her merits. I will plant the seed, as I might say. It will
grow fast enough."

The judge was silent as he helped Laidley, still talking eagerly, down
the stairs and into his carriage. The whole fantastic scheme was, as he
saw, the cowardly device of the dying man to appease his conscience.
That this poor creature should have any power to influence Van Ness, the
purest and