‘You will not be rich, unless you fulfil a condition your father made in his will.’ ‘Oh, I forgot. I did hear there was a condition. Do you know what it is, Lewis?’ ‘Yes, Maud. The condition is that you marry me. If you refuse, you only get five thousand pounds, and I get the rest. He was so anxious about it that he made a will, as I have said.’ ‘Marry you!’ Maud’s face had flushed crimson. ‘Why, Lewis, when papa died, I was six and you were nine. How could he want us to marry?’ ‘He looked to the future, I suppose. I have known this some time, Maud; but I loved you before I knew. I think it was a very unjust condition to make; but I cannot help that. Only do help to cancel the injustice; do think of your dead father’s wishes, and think a little of my love.’ Maud was silent, and her face was grave. ‘You like me, don’t you, Maud?’ ‘Oh yes, Lewis; I like you very much.’ ‘Do you think it would be quite impossible to love me?’ ‘I can’t fancy ever caring for you in that way,’ was the candid answer. ‘But you will think about it?—you will try?’ ‘I shall think about it, I am sure; but it all seems so odd—it isn’t fair. I ought to have my mother’s money, as Phil did not get it. You have no right to it.’ ‘Not the least,’ Lewis admitted frankly; ‘but I did not make the will.’ ‘No; Uncle Belassis did that, I suppose,’ said the girl rather bitterly. Lewis did not contradict her; he only said: ‘You value your fortune, Maud?’ ‘Of course I do. I am not a baby, and I am not silly. I don’t want to be dependent on Phil, though he is so generous. I ought to be independent and have my rights.’ ‘Then take them, Maud,’ pleaded Lewis earnestly; ‘take them, and take me too.’ ‘I must think about it,’ answered Maud, with the petulance of a bewildered mind. ‘Don’t talk to me any more. I must think about it all;’ and, in her own mind, she added, ‘I must talk to Phil.’ It was rather a silent party that walked back from Ladywell to Thornton House. CHAPTER VII. MICHAEL MEREDITH. Three days had now passed since Tor’s arrival at his uncle’s house, and a good deal of business and pleasure had been compressed into that brief period. The master of Ladywell was winning golden opinions from all around him. Mr. Belassis had found him pleasant and easy to deal with in a business capacity, and there had been no awkward questions asked during the examination of the papers and accounts relating to the Ladywell property. True, his nephew declined the generous offer he made of relieving him of all the business and trouble in the management of the estate, and elected to keep all in his own inexperienced hands; but then, as Mr. Belassis said to his wife, ‘There was nothing in that; no implied distrust. Most men would prefer to manage their own property, though it’s a thousand pities he does not go abroad again and leave everything to me.’