He took her hand kindly, and said, with a smile, 'My dear child, you know nothing about these things.'
'I suppose not, papa; but I have made you smile, and that is worth something.'
The interview was not prolonged. Hiram soon felt a restless feeling come over him. It occurred to him, just then, that he would have time before dinner to take a look at the locality which he was preparing to occupy for his real-estate improvements.
He told Harriet so, and repeating his request that she should induce her uncle to stay to dinner, he left her apartment.
As the door closed, his daughter sighed again. For a while she appeared to be absorbed in thought. Recovering, she directed the nurse to proceed with the book she had in reading.
We dare not inquire what was passing in her mind during those few moments of reflection. Perhaps, through that strange discrimination which is sometimes permitted to those appointed to die, she had a partial insight into her father's real nature.
I trust not. I hope she was spared that trial. It is an awful thing for a child to awaken to a sense of a parent's unworthiness!
CHAPTER IV.
The two brothers had met—had met more congenially than they ever met before. This was all Hiram's doings. He seemed like a new creature in his bearing toward Doctor Frank, who could not (indeed he had no wish to do so) resist the influence of his cordial treatment. After dinner, they sat together in the library. They chatted of the old, old times when Frank was in college, and Hiram, a little bit of a fellow, was his pet and plaything during the vacations.
'We have done something, Frank, to keep up the Meeker name in New York,' said the millionnaire, when that topic was exhausted. 'You are at the top of the profession, and I—I have accomplished a good deal.'