At this moment Espy, who had taken no part in the conversation, though a deeply interested listener, was, much to his discontent, summoned away by a message from his mother. Mr. Alden did most of the talking for the next hour, going over the old arguments again and again, but bringing forward little that was new except that Mr. and Mrs. Kemper, in adopting her as their own child, had given her all the rights of a child, and therefore, will or no will, she was the proper heir. “Is that according to the law of the land?” she asked, a gleam of hope shining in her eyes. He evaded the question. “Human laws are very faulty; we need not always be bound by them.” “No, not when they come in collision with the higher law of God; but that is not the case in this instance.” After a moment’s thought and stroking of his beard, he began on another tack, speaking of Espy and his plans, and dwelling at considerable length upon the great advantage it would be to the young man if his wife had sufficient means to give him a start in life. Floy heard him to the end in unbroken silence, her hands tightly clasped in her lap, a look of pain more than once crossing her features, while the color came and went on her cheek. He seemed to have finished, but she neither moved nor spoke. “Well,” he said, rising and taking up his hat from the table where he had placed it on entering, “I’ll leave you to think it all over. Good-morning!” “Stay!” she said, suddenly rising and standing before him, her hands still clasped, a look of anguish in her eyes as she lifted them to his, her voice tremulous with emotion, not from any faltering of purpose. “I need no further time for deliberation. I have thought and prayed over this matter, and my duty has been made very clear to me. Right and justice must be done, at whatever cost to me or to--” The last word was lost in a bitter, choking sob. Mr. Alden turned abruptly on his heel and left the house. CHAPTER VIII. MRS. ALDEN AN ABETTOR. “A settled virtue Makes itself a judge: and satisfied within, Smiles at that common enemy, the world.”--DRYDEN. “What is it, Nathan?” Mrs. Alden had come upon her husband pacing the front porch of their dwelling with angry strides. “That girl!” he said between his shut teeth. “I wash my hands of her and her affairs, and Espy shall never marry her with my consent, mark that, Jane!” and he brought down his clenched fist with emphasis upon the open palm of the other hand. His wife looked disturbed, but after a moment’s thought said cheerfully, “She’ll come round yet, Nathan, and you don’t mean that to stand if she does?”