aden. God knows I am not in love with this girl. I know her
kind, I know her breed. I want to save you from--well, I want to give you a
fighting chance to be a great, good man. You need the love of a fine,
unselfish woman to help you to the heights you aspire to reach. Anne
Tresslyn would not have helped you. She cannot see above her own level.
There are no heights for her. She belongs to the class that never looks up
from the ground. They are always following the easiest path. I am doing
you a good turn. Somewhere in this world there is a noble, self-
sacrificing woman who will make you happy, who will give strength to you,
who will love you for yourself and not for _herself_. Go out and find her,
my boy. You will recognise her the instant you see her."

"But you--what of you?" asked Braden, deeply impressed by the old man's
unsuspected sentiment. "Will you go ahead and--and marry her, knowing that
she will make your last few years of life unhappy, un--"

"I am under contract," said Templeton Thorpe grimly. "I never go back on a
contract."

"I shall see her, nevertheless," said Braden doggedly.

"It is my desire that you should. In fact, I shall make it my business to
see that you do. After that, I fancy you will not care to remain here for
the wedding. I should advise you to return to London as soon as you have
had it out with her."

"I shall remain here until the very hour of the wedding if it is to take
place, and up to that very hour I shall do my best to prevent it,
grandfather."

"Your failure to do so will make me the happiest man in New York," said
Mr. Thorpe, emotion in his voice, "for I love you dearly, Braden."

CHAPTER V

A conspicuous but somewhat unimportant member of the Tresslyn family was a
young man of twenty-four. He was Anne's brother, and he had preceded her
into the world by the small matter of a year and two months. Mrs. Tresslyn
had set great store by him. Being a male child he did not present the
grave difficulties that attend the successful launching and disposal of
the female of the species to which the Tresslyn family belonged. He was
born with the divine right to pick and choose, and that is something that
at present appears to be denied the sisters of men. But the amiable
George, at the age of one and twenty and while still a freshman in
college, picked a girl without consulting his parent and in a jiffy put an
end to the theory that man's right is divine.

It took more t