"Well, Mary," he said, "I think I can promise that if I answer your
questions at all I shall answer them truthfully. But I scarcely like
to promise to answer them without knowing what they are. A lawyer has a
good many secrets intrusted to him and he is obliged to be careful."

"I know. But this is a secret in which I am interested. I am interested
in it more than anyone else. I must know the truth about it! I MUST! If
you won't tell me I shall find out somehow. WILL you tell?"

Judge Baxter rubbed his chin again.

"Don't you think you had better ask your questions?" he suggested.

"Yes; yes, I do. I will. How much money did my stepfather, Captain
Marcellus Hall, have when he died?"

The Judge's chin-rubbing ceased. His eyebrows drew together.

"Why do you want to know?" he asked, after a moment.

"Because I do. Because it is very important that I should. It is my
right to know. Was he a rich man?"

"Um--er--no. I should not call him that. Hardly a rich man."

"Was he very poor?"

"Mary, I don't exactly see why--"