'Not a refined and lovely young woman in a place like this, certainly,' he said frankly, and looking round with an expression of extreme disgust. 'Has it never occurred to you what poor preparation Miss Graham has had for the position you intend her to fill?' 'That's none of your business,' retorted the old man sharply. '_She_ doesn't need any preparation, I tell you. Cottage or palace are the same to her; she'll be a queen in either.' This strange speech made the lawyer look at the old man intently. He perceived that underneath his brusque, forbidding exterior there burned the steady light of a great love for his brother's child, and here, surely, was the greatest marvel of all. 'I did not bring you here to make remarks on my niece,' he said peevishly. 'Read that over, see, and tell me if it's all right, if there's anything to be added or taken away. There's a clause I want added about the boy, Walter Hepburn. He's been with me a long time, and though he's a very firebrand, he's faithful and honest. He won't rue it.' Mr. Fordyce adjusted his eyeglass and spread out the will before him. Up-stairs the two young beings, drawn close together by a common sorrow and a common need, tried to look into the future with hopeful eyes, not knowing that, in the room below, that very future was being assured for them in a way they knew not. [Illustration] CHAPTER XIII. THE LAST SUMMONS. 'You'll look after her, Mr. Fordyce, promise me that?' said the old man when they had gone over the contents of the will. 'Why, yes, I will, so far as I can,' answered the lawyer, without hesitation. 'She will not lack friends, you may rest assured. This,' he added, tapping the blue paper, 'will ensure her more friends than she may need.' 'Ay, it's from such I want you to guard her. I know how many sharks there are who would regard an unprotected girl like her as their lawful prey. She'll marry some day, I hope, and wisely. But it is in the interval she needs looking after.' 'How old is she?' 'Seventeen and a half, I think.' 'She looks her age--a remarkably calm and self-possessed young lady, I thought her to-day. And she has no idea of this, you say?' 'Positively none,' answered the old man, with something like a chuckle. 'Why, this very morning we spoke of what she would do when I'm away, but it doesn't seem to be worrying her much. I never saw a person, old or young, with greater powers of adapting themselves to any circumstances,--_any_ circumstances, mind you,--so you needn't be exercised about her future deportment. She'll astonish you, I promise you that.' 'You really believe, then, that you won't get better?' 'I know I won't; a man knows these things in spite of himself,' was the calm reply.