“Why, grandpapa, certainly not. But you are a millionaire, and what is that small sum to you, when it relieves you of all anxieties, and makes sure the success of your darling wish? Besides, am I not your legal heir, and I should get the money later on, so why not a little sooner?”
“Don’t be too sure of that, you minx! I shall probably leave all my money to some charitable institution! Besides, I shall live to be a hundred years old!”
So he blustered and stormed, but Amber remained as cool as an iceberg, and would not abate one dollar of her demand, so that in the end he yielded, grumpily, and promised the check.
She thanked him with an ardor he could not understand.
“You must love money very much,” he said, curiously.
“I do,” she admitted, frankly, and added: “Oh, how happy you have made me, for that check shall buy for me the desire of my heart!”
“What is it?” he asked; but Amber evaded the question, and proceeded to unfold to him a portion of her plans. They were so clever and so wicked that he was chagrined because they had not occurred to his own mind, so fertile in inventing evil.
CHAPTER XIV.
“LOVE IS THE SWEETEST THING IN LIFE.”
“If I could only see my darling Cecil, for even one short hour!” Violet sighed, day after day.
It was so lonely in her chamber, which Judge Camden would not permit her to leave, and where no one was allowed to visit her except Amber and Mrs. Shirley.