It was his consideration for her alone that prevented him from making a most unfortunate marriage." "The girl died insane, didn't she ?" "It was a distressing--a most distressing case; but we must remember, in rendering our verdict, that if Janet Merryweather had upheld the principles of her sex, it would never have happened." "We'll rest it there, then--but what of her daughter?
The child could hardly have been accessory before the fact, I suppose ?" An expression of suffering patience came into the old gentleman's face, and he averted his gaze as he had done before the looming countenance of Kesiah.
"Your uncle rarely spoke to me of her," he answered, "but I have reason to know that her existence was a constant source of distress to him.

He was most anxious both to protect your mother and to provide generously for the future of Janet's daughter.
"Yet I understand that there was no mention of her in his will." "This omission was entirely on your mother's account.

The considerable property--representing a third of his entire estate--which was left in trust to me for a secret purpose, will go, of course, to the girl.

In the last ten years this property has practically doubled in value, and Molly will take possession of the income from it when she reaches her twenty-first birthday.

The one condition is that at Reuben's death she shall live with your aunt." "Ah," said Jonathan, "I begin to see." "At the time, of course, he believed that your mother would survive him only a few months, and his efforts to shield her from any painful discoveries extended even after his death.