“Yes, I fear she does not intend to spare her rival, unless we can hit upon some plan of settling the matter quietly,” said the crafty villain.
“Can it be quietly settled?” eagerly questioned the distressed girl.
“Possibly it might be,” the man admitted, with averted eyes.
“How?”
“Well, I suppose if you would resign everything——”
“Everything! Do you tell me that I am expected to relinquish all right and title to everything that my dear father left me?” cried Allison, the hot color mounting to her forehead in indignant protest against such wholesale robbery.
“Ahem!” said John Hubbard, moving uneasily upon his chair. “I think that will be the only way to get out of it quietly. You see, you are not really entitled to a penny, since there is no Brewster blood in your veins.”
“But do not the love and wishes of my father, as expressed in his will, count for anything?”
“From a sentimental point of view, they might count for a great deal; but there is no sentiment in law, Miss Brewster,” sneered the attorney.
“No, nor any other principle but greed!” sharply retorted Allison, a ring of keen pain in her tones.