It did not seem so preposterous to the judge, after these few hours of contact with the mason, that Adelle should want to endow her cousin with a part of that fortune which but for accident and legal formality would have been his. There were, however, many other of these California Clarks, in whom Adelle could not possibly be interested and who might not be equally promising, but who would have to share her liberality with the mason. It was a delicate tangle, as the judge realized when he attempted to untie the knot. "Mr. Clark," he began, sinking into the deep wing chair before his fireplace, "I suppose your cousin has informed you of the results of her interview with the Washington Trust Company?" "Yes!" the young man emitted shortly, with an inquiring grin. "She said there was nothing doing about our claim." "The officers of the trust company were right so far as the law is concerned, as I had to tell Mrs. Clark. The law is doubtless often slow and bungling in its processes, but when it has once fully decided an issue it is very loath to open it up again, especially when, as in this case, litigation would involve hardship and injustice to a great many innocent people." "Well, I somehow thought it might be too late," the young mason remarked, throwing himself loosely into the chair opposite the judge. After a moment of reflection he added feelingly,--"The law is an infernal contraption anyhow--it's always rigged so's the little feller gets left." "The law rigged it so that your cousin, who was a penniless girl, got a thousand times more than her grandfather asked for his property," the judge observed with a twinkle. "She had the luck, that's all--and we other Clarks didn't!" the young man replied. "You can call it luck, if you like," the judge mused. "That's what most folks would call it, I guess." "I suppose that is what she feels, because she was anxious when she came to see me yesterday to divide her fortune with you other Clarks." It was a daring move, and as he spoke the judge looked keenly into the young man's face. "Did she?" Tom Clark inquired unconcernedly. "I know she's always on the square--there aren't many like her!" "You may not know that if she should carry out her intention, she would strip herself of almost every dollar she possesses." "What do you mean by that?" "Her husband, I understand, conducted her affairs so badly that very nearly if not quite half the great fortune she received five years ago from her guardians has wasted away. I don't know what ultimately may be recovered from these California investments, but judging from what Mrs. Clark tells me I should say almost nothing. So that there can be left of the original estate only a little over two millions of dollars." "Well, that's enough for any woman to worry along on," the mason grinned lightly. "But not enough for her to pay out of it two and a half millions, which would have been the share of your grandfather's heirs."