"
The smile which was Hazen's only retort was very bitter.
"You drew up her will," said he. "You must have reasoned with her on this
very point as you are now trying to reason with me?"
The lawyer waved this aside.
"I didn't know at that time the social status of the legatee; nor did I
know her brother then as well as I do now."
"You do not know me now."
"I know that you are very pale; that the determination you have just made
has cost you more than you perhaps are willing to state. That there is
mystery in your past, mystery in your present, and, possibly, mystery
threatening your future, and all in connection with your great desire for
this money."
Hazen made a forcible gesture, but whether of denial or depreciation, it
was not easy to decide.
"Would it not then be better for all parties," pursued the lawyer, "for
you to give me some idea of the great obligation under which your sister
lay to this man, that I may have an answer ready when people ask me why
she passed you so conspicuously by, in order to enrich this stranger?"
"The story is not mine. Had she wished you to know it, she would have
confided it to you herself. I must decline--"
Mr. Harper interrupted the other impressively. "Do you realize what a
shadow may be thrown upon your sister's memory by this reticence on your
part? Her death was suggestive enough without the complications you
mention.
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