"No, honey, no! You shan't be beholden to any one but me," he answered. "I hoped you'd decide as you have. 'Twould take half the pleasure out of my life if it warn't us that was to do for you. Just the same, Mr. Galbraith, we thank you kindly for bringin' the offer, an' your friend for makin' it; an' though we refuse it, 'tain't done in no unfriendly spirit." "I understand that," nodded the financier. Nevertheless he gazed with no small amount of awe and respect at these poor fisherfolk who could so lightly fling aside a fortune. "Mebbe," resumed Zenas Henry, "you'll tell this friend of Madam Lee's that we've took note of his squareness." "Oh, yes, do tell him that it was splendid of him, splendid!" interrupted Delight. "He's a gentleman, whoever he is," Captain Phineas added. "Tell him so from all of us." "You might like to tell him so yourselves," returned Mr. Galbraith slowly. "Eh?" Zenas Henry questioned. "Oh, we might write him, you mean. That's so. Likely it would be more decent. We'd be surer of his knowin' how we felt if 'twas put down in black an' white. What's his name?" "Robert Morton." "Robert Morton! Robert Mor--not our--not _Bob_!" "Yes." He saw Delight flush, and her eyes suddenly fill with tears. "Bob!" she whispered half-aloud. "Bob!" Zenas Henry drew her closer. "What does the girl want with money," he demanded, "when she's got a man like that? He's better than all the money on earth." "But she'll get the money just the same, Zenas Henry," piped Captain Jonas. "She'll get it. Have you thought of that?" "It will be Bob's money, not mine," returned Delight with shy dignity. CHAPTER XXIII FAME COMES TO THE DREAMER OF DREAMS Richard Galbraith returned thoughtfully over the Harbor Road not sorry at the turn affairs had taken. The honorable and magnanimous thing had been done with the Lee fortune, and it had been firmly and proudly refused. Now it could go unreservedly to Robert Morton for whom the financier had a particular regard and in whose wisdom to make a sensible use of it he felt every confidence. The money would not only place the young man in a position to marry without delay, but indirectly its benefits would reach the two individuals that Madam Lee would most earnestly have desired to help. Nor did the capitalist's regard for Delight, which had steadily been growing, decrease when viewed from this new angle. The Lees were a proud race and the girl came justly by the attribute. He was not sure, now that he reflected on the matter, but that he himself would have scorned the legacy in the same high-handed fashion. Nevertheless he had not expected this termination of the interview, had not expected it at all. His recently acquired relatives were proving themselves interesting persons. Who would have dreamed that a penniless fisherman's daughter would have tossed the Lee ducats back into his face?