"If through my means your aunt is adjudged insane, and you come into her fortune, or get control of her estate, I want ten thousand dollars."
"Isn't that rather steep?"
"You say Mrs. Vernon is worth at least quarter of a million?"
"I judge so."
"Then what I ask is little enough. You must remember that I must get another doctor to sign with me."
"Very well, I agree," answered Vernon after a pause.
"Then I will undertake it. Be guided by me, and success is sure."
When the pair of conspirators had left her presence Mrs. Vernon remained for a short time silent and thoughtful. Robert watched her anxiously.
"I hope," he said, "you do not think there is cause for alarm."
"I do not know," she answered. "I am not so much alarmed as disgusted. That my own nephew should enter into such a plot is enough to destroy one's confidence in human nature."