“Why do you do this?” he asked, coldly, and regarding his brother with suspicion. “You are my father’s elder son, and entitled to half of his fortune.”
“I do not wish it, believe me,” Geoffrey answered. “I have enough as it is. I can never tell you,” he added, earnestly, “how much more to me than fortune, or any other inheritance, is the name that I can legally claim from our father. Let that be my share—indeed, I will not have anything else.”
Everet stood, thoughtful and silent, for several moments. Then, with an evident effort, he looked up in Geoffrey’s face, and said:
“I know that you might have all, had you chosen to take it, and in that case I would have been a beggar. You have led me to believe—and not by this act alone, either—that there is at least one truly noble, unselfish man in the world. If you do not utterly despise me, will you henceforth recognize me as a friend?”
He extended his hand as he spoke, but it shook visibly, and he was very pale. It had not been an easy thing for this proud young Southerner to make such a confession and appeal.
Geoffrey grasped it warmly, his manly face all aglow with sincere joy.
“Not only my ‘friend,’ Everet, but, my brother, in name and in truth,” he answered, heartily; and thus a life-long bond was established between them, which strengthened with every succeeding year, while the desire of Colonel Mapleson’s heart was granted him ere he closed his eyes upon all things earthly.
A little later, Addie Loring, who during all this time had refused many an eager suitor, became the mistress of Vue de l’Eau, where she reigned the center of a happy and peaceful household.
She often visited her girlhood’s friend at the North, and entertained her, in turn, in her Southern home, where the elder Mrs. Mapleson was supremely content in the presence of her child and grandchildren, even though they were ignorant that no other bond save that of mutual love and sympathy united them.
Mr. and Mrs. Huntress were also very happy in their children, and lived many years to enjoy them—years which brought with them an