“No, the pain is all a thing of the past, if, indeed, there ever was any connected with my marriage with your father. When the conditions of the will were first made known to us, neither of us were willing to carry them out, not that we had any especial dislike to each other; we simply did not seem to be in perfect sympathy, we had no real affection for one another, and on that account we both shrank from assuming the intimate relations of husband and wife. William Mapleson was a handsome and noble gentleman, and I admired and liked him in a cousinly way. His own feelings were similar to mine, so you perceive it was not easy to comply with the wishes of your Uncle Jabez. The property, as you perhaps know, was divided equally between us, and we were free to use the income of it as we chose, until I should be twenty-five years of age, provided neither of us married any one else before that time; in that case, whichever of us violated the conditions of the will was to forfeit his or her share, and it was to go to the other, who was then free to marry, and would have the whole fortune. If both of us remained single after I reached the age of twenty-five, than all was to go to Robert Dale.” “It was an abominable will!” Everet Mapleson exclaimed, indignantly. “Yes, it was, and it made me very antagonistic at first. I was extremely high spirited as a girl, and I resented the presumption of any one choosing my husband for me,” Mrs. Mapleson replied, a flush dyeing her whole face at the memory of her girlish indignation. “Of course, any one would. Besides this, Robert Dale had plenty of money of his own, hadn’t he?” “Yes, he was worth a great deal. He was a bachelor and a sort of miser and hermit.” “What if he had died before you were twenty-five?” “That would have ended all our difficulties—the money would have been ours without restrictions.” “What finally induced you to change your mind?” Everet asked, searching his mother’s handsome face earnestly. She did not reply for a moment, and seemed to be struggling with an inward emotion. “I shall have to confess, Everet, that it was the love of money,” she at last said, with a sigh, although a slight smile played over her brilliant lips. “I had known what poverty was as a girl, and I hated it. I had struggled during my youthful years for even the necessaries of life, for, as you know, my father was poor and an invalid. After I came into the possession of my share of Uncle Jabez’s money I enjoyed every luxury and was enabled to provide all the family with comforts such as they had never known before. Do you think it would have been easy to have gone back to the hardships of my early life?” “I suppose it would not have been easy.”