CHAPTER XXIII.
PALMER'S UNFORTUNATE DEBUT.
It had made James Talbot feel very bitter to think that should his wife die the Frost fortune would go entirely to his step-son.
"He doesn't deserve a cent of it—with his impudence to me and his running away from home," he said to himself. "The money ought to come to me."
The more he thought over the matter the more bitter did he become. He tried to think of some way by which he could alter the conditions of Mr. Frost's will, but nothing came to his mind that was satisfactory.
Of course he did not dare show his wife his real feelings. She was still angry over the lost letter, and he was afraid of causing an open rupture.
He concluded to do everything he could to win her good graces, and then question her again about the will and the property. Perhaps he might be able, he thought, to get control of the money lying in the bank, which amounted to about thirty thousand dollars.
"Once I get control of that," he told himself, "Robert can whistle for his share. I'll run away to Europe before I'll give it up."