"
"Armine will walk through life like Allen," scornfully said Janet;
"besides he is but fourteen. Now, mother, why should not I be
worthy?"
"My dear Janet, it is not a question of worthiness; it is not a thing
a woman could work out."
"I do not ask you to give it to me now, nor even to promise it to
me," said Janet, with a light in those dark wells, her eyes; "but
only to let me have the hope, that when in three years' time I am
qualified, and have passed the examinations, if Bobus does not take
it up, you will let me claim that best inheritance my father left,
but which his sons do not heed."
"My child, you do not know what you ask. Remember, I know more about
it than only what you picked up on that morning. It is a matter he
could not have made sure of without a succession of experiments very
hard even for him, and certainly quite impossible for any woman. The
exceeding difficulty and danger of the proof was one reason of his
guarding it so much, and desiring it should only be told to one good
as well as clever-—clever as well as good."
"Can you give me no hint of the kind of thing," said Janet,
wistfully.
"That would be a betrayal of his trust."
Janet looked terribly disappointed.
"Mother," said she, "let me put it to you.
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