Something has to be done right away."

"I'm afraid you don't grasp the situation. Now if you were not married
it would--"

"I wouldn't give up my wife for all the islands in the universe. That's
settled. You don't know how happy we are. She's the--"

"Yes, yes, I know," interrupted the wily Mr. Bowen. "Don't tell me about
it. She's a stumbling block, however, even though we are agreed that
she's a most delightful one. Your co-legatee also possesses a block,
perhaps not so delicate, but I daresay she feels the same about hers as
you do about yours. I can't advise you, my boy. Go and see Judge Garrett
over in the K---- building. They say he expects to come back from the
grave to break his own will."

Ten minutes later an excited young man rushed into an office in the
K---- building. Two minutes afterward he was laying the case before that
distinguished old counsellor, Judge Abner Garrett.

"You will have to fight it jointly," said Judge Garrett, after
extracting the wheat from the chaff of Browne's remarks. "You can't take
hers away from her and she can't get yours. We must combine against the
natives. Come back to-morrow at two."

Promptly at two Browne appeared, eager-eyed and nervous. He had left
behind him at home a miserable young woman with red eyes and choking
breath who bemoaned the cruel conviction that she stood between him and
fortune.