"Florence," he said, almost with a gasp, "does this mean that you
are going to be--" He stopped short. He could not say that word.

"I'm never going to marry anybody," she returned.

"But--" he began again.

"Then you haven't heard!" she cried, clasping her hands. "Oh,
Frank, you haven't heard!"

"I have only just got back," he said.

"I've been left heaps of money," she exclaimed, "from my uncle,
you know, the one that treated father so badly and tricked him out
of the old manor farm. I hardly knew he existed till he died. And
it's not only a lot, Frank, but it's millions!"

He repeated the word with a kind of groan.

"They are probating the will for six," she went on, not noticing
his agitation, "but I'm sure the lawyers are making it as low as
they can for the taxes. And it's the most splendid kind of
property--rows of houses in the heart of New York and big Broadway
shops and skyscrapers! Frank, do you realise I own two office
buildings twenty stories high?"

Frank tried to congratulate her on her wonderful good fortune, but
it was like a voice from the grave and he could not affect to be
glad at the death-knell of all his hopes.