His mother turned fully toward him now and said, sneeringly, “A disinterested lover, truly. Perhaps when you promised to destroy the Will you forgot the hundred thousand which, if Roger remained master here, would come to you with Magdalen, and you made yourself believe that you were doing a very unselfish and romantic thing in preferring Magdalen and poverty to Millbank.” “Mother,” Frank cried, “I swear to you that a thought of that hundred thousand never crossed my mind until this moment. My love for Magdalen is strong enough to brave poverty in any form for her sake.” “And you really mean to marry her?” She put the question so coolly that Frank gazed at her in astonishment, wondering what she meant. Of course he meant to marry her if she would take him; he would prefer her to a thousand Millbanks. “And mother,” he added, “you shall not tell her that _you_ know of the Will until after to-morrow. She is to give me her answer then. Promise, or I will destroy this cursed paper before your very eyes.” He made a motion as if he would tear it in pieces, when, with a sudden gesture, his mother caught it from him and held it fast in her own hands. “The Will is not safe with you,” she said. “I will keep it for you. I shall not trouble Magdalen, but I shall go at once to Roger. I cannot see you throw away wealth, and ease, and position for a bit of sentiment with regard to a girl whose parentage is doubtful, to say the least of it, and who can bring you nothing but a pretty face.” She had put the Will in her pocket. There was no way of getting it from her, except by force, and Frank saw her depart without a word, and knew she was going to Roger. Suddenly it occurred to him that Roger might not have left the office yet, and he started up, exclaiming, “I am the one to tell him first, if he must know. I can break it to him easier than mother. I shall not be hard on Roger.” Thus thinking, Frank started swiftly across the fields in the direction of Roger’s office, hoping either to meet him, or to find him there, and trying to decide how he should break the news so as to wound his uncle as little as possible, and make him understand that he was not in fault. CHAPTER XXIII. ROGER AND THE WILL.