“I mean that if you will give me your note for fifty thousand dollars, payable six months from date, and agree to a certain plan I have in view, I will tell you where you can place your hands upon a million of money.” “What is your plan, sir?” “That you marry Mary at once to my son.” “You ask this when you know that I am aware of what he is?” indignantly said the judge. “Oh, yes; you gave your consent before, when you knew that Kenton had served in the penitentiary. Don’t preach morality, Andrew Hale, for it does not set well on you,” sneered the parson. “Man, tell me what you have come here for, and at once.” “I need fifty thousand dollars that I may live on the interest it will bring. I am getting along in years, and I wish to provide again for my son, whose fortune you squandered. Therefore, I wish him to marry an heiress.” “And I tell you that I am little more than a beggar.” “Oh, no; a man died in the upper mines some days ago, and he made his confession to me, and left a will bequeathing a million dollars he had dug out of the ground to you and your daughter----” “What?” “True. I ask for only fifty thousand, and you will still have two hundred thousand, as he left you a quarter of a million, and Mary the balance.” “Do you mean this, Mat Kingsland?” and Judge Hale was very much excited. “I do.” “Why was a man worth that sum working in the mines?” “He was not; he had dug his gold out of California and gone East to find his relatives. Learning that they had come West, he sought them here in the mines, was taken ill and died as I told you. That man was Ned Hale, your oldest brother.” Judge Hale could not speak for a while, but at last he said fervently: “Thank God!” “You had better thank me, for you cannot get it unless I deliver up the papers. I wish your note for the fifty thousand, and to see dear Kenton and Mary married before I turn the papers over to you.” “If this fortune has been left me, I can get it without your aid.” “Oh, no, for I have the papers, and the lawyers and the witnesses are all in my pay. Do you agree to the terms, Andrew?” “I will give you one hundred thousand, if you will not hold Mary in the bargain.” “She will have vast wealth and a devilish handsome husband.” “She shall not marry him, and if you and your accursed son ever enter my house again, I will shoot you down as I would a mad dog. Now, begone, sir.” “Judge Hale, be reasonable. You are mad to throw away this fortune,” urged Mathew Kingsland. “You are acting only for self-interest, simply to get your reward out of it, and I will be happy in keeping it from you.” “But dear Mary will be made unhappy by----” “Dear Mary is happy as she is with my father, Mat Kingsland. I order you from this house, for I have heard all that was said, and know your baseness,” and Mary swept into the room as proud as a queen and defiant. “Ah! you, then, know that your father stole----”