"Oh, Mr. Ashley! I never can manage it. I am utterly incompetent!" she exclaimed in deep distress, when she began to comprehend something of the condition of affairs. The lawyer smiled.
"Of course, you are not expected to act alone; you must have help; your friend had no intention of having you harassed with pecuniary burdens. He left everything in excellent condition, and I assure you there will be no complications. I have everything in a nutshell, so to speak, though I confess it is a good big nut, and I am sure, from what Mr. Lamonti has told me regarding your business-capacity, that you will readily understand everything when I place my statements before you. But, Miss Heatherford, let us now talk about your own fortune. I shall want to know just what disposition to make of it."
"Fortune!" repeated Mollie, astonished. "I imagine you magnify Monsieur Lamonti's bequest to me; you dignify it by too high-sounding a name."
"He has left you exactly one-fourth of all that he possessed, Miss Heatherford," Mr. Ashley quietly returned.
"One-fourth!"
At first the words did not seem to mean much to Mollie. Then, as her active mind began to grasp the situation, she started violently, flushed, then paled.
"Mr. Ashley! you do not mean that! I—it cannot be possible!" she gasped in breathless astonishment. "Why! that would be——"
"Yes, exactly; since you already know what Lucille's fortune amounts to, it is comparatively an easy matter to compute your own," smilingly returned her companion, and thoroughly enjoying the surprise of the beautiful girl, for whom, although he had only recently made her acquaintance, he was rapidly acquiring a great admiration and respect.
"But I never dreamed of anything like this!" Mollie panted, for she was actually quivering with excitement. "Oh! It does not seem right. I have done nothing to deserve so much. I cannot accept it."
"But, my dear Miss Heatherford, you have no alternative," Mr. Ashley quietly observed. "Monsieur Lamonti has decreed what shall be done with his property, and you gave him your solemn promise, in my presence, that you would attend to having his wishes carried out to the letter."