“There is something more to be desired in life than the union of two estates, valuable as they may be,” returned the young man, gravely. “It was an arbitrary and unnatural will that both Uncle Milton and Mr. Rochester made; it is simply absurd for one generation to imagine that it can control the affections of the one following, and settle its domestic relations according to its own notions. I know that Milton Hamilton was fond of me; no doubt he fondly imagined that I should fall in love with Sadie Rochester, and everything would move smoothly along, as he and her father had planned. But I believe if he could speak to-day he would say that he would prefer me to have his fortune, even though I have not married as he wished, than to have it go in another direction. But that is all past; the die is cast; having once seen and loved Salome, I could never love or marry any other woman, were forty fortunes in the balance; so, if you please, we will not discuss that point any further.” “I cannot believe that you are so infatuated with the girl as you pretend to be,” his mother exclaimed excitedly. “I believe that you were actuated more by motives of pity and gratitude than love. Tell me—am I not right? Can you honestly say that you were not governed by those feelings?” “No, I cannot say that,” he responded thoughtfully, “for gratitude did actuate me in a measure—it was profound gratitude for the noble sacrifice of her life-blood, that led me to seek her in the first place, and I felt that I owed her a debt which I could only repay by devoting my life to her; but love was the strongest motive of all; she had won my whole heart before I offered her my hand.” Madame Winthrop’s eyes snapped angrily at this assertion, but she did not pursue that train any further. “Well, what are you going to do about the fortune that you have forfeited—have you given any consideration to that important subject?” she sharply demanded. “Yes, I believe I have fully considered the matter, and I am prepared to fulfil the conditions of the will, to the letter,” Dr. Winthrop gravely returned. “What conditions?” demanded Evelyn. “I imagined that the fortune, all except the estate at Englehurst, was given to you for your name.” “The will, Evelyn, was made when I was a mere boy; if Uncle Milton had lived longer, I do not believe he would have imposed any such conditions upon me,” her brother returned. “These conditions were—if I obeyed his wish, and married the daughter of his friend, I was to have the whole of his fortune; if I refused to do this, and married any one else, I was to surrender all right and title to Englehurst, together with a hundred thousand dollars, to found an institution for the blind, in connection with Brookside, and a like amount, according to the stipulations of Mr. Rochester’s will. The only portion I was to receive unconditionally was this house and its contents.”