. Her mother and sister had wished her to stay at Nuncombe.
"There is a bed for you now, and a place to be comfortable in,"
Priscilla had said, laughing, "and you may as well see the last of
us." But Dorothy declared that she had named a day to her aunt, and
that she would not break her engagement. "I suppose you can stay if
you like," Priscilla had urged. But Dorothy was of opinion that she
ought not to stay. She said not a word about Brooke Burgess; but it
may be that it would have been matter of regret to her not to shake
hands with him once more. Brooke declared to her that had she not
come back he would have gone over to Nuncombe to see her; but Dorothy
did not consider herself entitled to believe that.

On the morning of the last day Brooke went over to his uncle's
office. "I've come to say good-bye, Uncle Barty," he said.

"Good-bye, my boy. Take care of yourself."

"I mean to try."

"You haven't quarrelled with the old woman,--have you?" said Uncle
Barty.

"Not yet;--that is to say, not to the knife."

"And you still believe that you are to have her money?"

"I believe nothing one way or the other. You may be sure of this,--I
shall never count it mine till I've got it; and I shall never make
myself so sure of it as to break my heart because I don't get it. I
suppose I've got as good a right to it as anybody else, and I don't
see why I shouldn't take it if it come in my way."

"I don't think it ever will," said the old man, after a pause.

"I shall be none the worse," said Brooke.

"Yes, you will. You'll be a broken-hearted man. And she means to
break your heart. She does it on purpose. She has no more idea of
leaving you her money than I have. Why should she?"

"Simply because she takes the fancy."

"Fancy! Believe me, there is very little fancy about it. There isn't
one of the name she wouldn't ruin if she could. She'd break all our
hearts if she could get at them. Look at me and my position. I'm
little more than a clerk in the concern. By God;--I'm not so well off
as a senior clerk in many a bank. If there came a bad time, I must
lose as the others would lose;--but a clerk never loses. And my share
in the business is almost a nothing. It's just nothing,--compared to
what it would have been, only for her."

Brooke had known that his uncle was a disappointed, or at least
a discontented man; but he had never known much of the old man's
circumstances, and certainly had not expected to hear him spea