"Make provision for the child, if there should be one."
"What would you suggest?" asked Anthony, slowly.
"I don't wish to injure the boy; I would only suggest that charity begins at home. Divide your estate into thirds; give one-third to Mark, one to the child, if there be one, and one to charity."
"I have no objection to that. But suppose there be no child living?"
"Then divide that third between Mark and the charitable societies you have enumerated."
"Wisely counseled, John, but why not give it to you?"
"Because I am moderately rich already, and need nothing more. Then, also, it would work against my interest to find the child. I might turn out to be as wicked and unprincipled as most lawyers are said to be," he concluded, with a smile.
"I have no fear of that. So that is your only objection—"
"It isn't. Give it all to the boy in preference."
"No, let it be as you proposed."