Aunt Jane's Nieces
"Why, the boy might become a famous artist, if he had good
masters; and a person with an artistic temperament, such as his,
should have enough money to be independent of his art."
Aunt Jane coughed, unsympathetically.
"The boy is nothing to me," she said.
"But he ought to have Elmhurst, at least," pleaded the girl. "Won't
you leave it to him, Aunt Jane?"
"No."
"Then do as you please," cried Patsy, flying angry in her turn. "As a
matter of justice, the place should never have been yours, and I won't
accept a dollar of the money if I starve to death!"
"Think of your father," suggested Aunt Jane, cunningly.
"Ah, I've done that," said the girl, "and I know how many comforts I
could buy for the dear Major. Also I'd like to go to a girl's college,
like Smith or Wellesley, and get a proper education. But not with your
money, Aunt Jane. It would burn my fingers. Always I would think that
if you had not been hard and miserly this same money would have saved
my mother's life. No! I loathe your money. Keep it or throw it to the
dogs, if you won't give it to the boy it belongs to. But don't you
dare to will your selfish hoard to me."
"Let us change the subject, Patricia."
"Will you change your will?"
"No.".
"Then I won't talk to you. I'm angry and hurt, and if I stay here I'll
say things I shall be sorry for."
With these words she marched out of the room, her cheeks flaming, and
Aunt Jane looked after her with admiring eyes.
"She's right," she whispered to herself. "It's just as I'd do under
the same circumstances!"
This interview was but the beginning of a series that lasted during
the next fortnight, during which time the invalid persisted in sending
for Patricia and fighting the same fight over and over again. Always
the girl pleaded for Kenneth to inherit, and declared she would not
accept the money and Elmhurst; and always Aunt Jane stubbornly refused
to consider the boy and tried to tempt the girl with pictures of the
luxury and pleasure that riches would bring her.
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There was once an honest journeyman tailor, by name Labakan, who learned his trade with an excellent master in Alexandria. It could not be said that Labakan was unhandy with the needle; on the contrary, he could make excellent work: moreover, one would have done him injustice to have called him lazy. Nevertheless, his companions knew not what to make of him, for he would often sew for hours together so rapidly that the needle would glow in his hand, and the thread smoke, and that none could equal him.
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