Virgies Inheritance | Page 2

for you I believe I should be glad to
know that my saddened life is almost at an end. I----"
The weary voice quivered and failed here, and the man sank back in his
chair with a bitter sigh.
The young girl, her own face now blanched to the hue of death, laid
down her work, arose, and moved swiftly to her father's side, where she
knelt by his chair.
"Papa, do not talk so. You must not leave me," she cried, in a voice of
agony. "I cannot spare you. There must be something to help you--to
build up your strength. Let us go back home, where you can have the
best medical advice."
The man sat up in his chair, stopping her with a gesture almost of
despair.
"Home!" he cried, hoarsely. "Virgie, we have no home but this. You
know that I am already the same as dead to every one but you; that
even our real name is sunk in oblivion."
"But, papa, you must try to live for my sake," Virgie cried, clasping her
trembling hands about his emaciated arm, and shuddering as she felt
how frail it was. "If you will not go back, let me at least send for Dr.
Truel. He is skillful. He was always our friend. He will cheer you and
give you something to build you up, and he will keep our secret, too.
Oh, you ought to have had advice long ago. What shall I do in this
dreary place if you leave me alone?"

The sick man unclasped her clinging hands from his arm, and drew her
slight form to him in a tender embrace.
"My darling," he said, fondly, "that is just what I wish to talk with you
about; so calm yourself and listen to me. Neither Dr. Truel, nor any
other doctor, can help me now; if I had called him a year ago he might
have prolonged my life; but my pride would not let me face any one
whom I had ever known. But I will not speak of the past; it is too
familiar and painful to both of us. It is useless, however, for me to think
for a moment of going back, even to die, in the home where we were
once so happy, for only disgrace is connected with our name--disgrace
and wrong, all the more keenly felt because unmerited."
"Hush, Virgie!" he continued, as a shuddering sob burst from the breast
pressed so closely to his, "you must not give way so. I did not mean to
alarm you unnecessarily by what I have said; I may not leave you for
some time yet. I may be spared for a few months, perhaps until autumn,
but I feel that the time has come to arrange some definite plan for your
future. I must, however, give up my work, for I have no longer strength
to carry it on; but if there was only some one whom I could trust to take
charge of my claim. I might even yet reap something of benefit from it
to add to the hoard that I have been saving for you against this
emergency."
"But, papa, I would much rather that you should spend every dollar that
you have, if it would prolong your life; if I lose you, I have not a friend
in the world."
The man heaved a heavy sigh, for too well he realized the truth of her
words.
"My dear," he returned, with tender pathos, "if it were possible for me
to regain my health, at any sacrifice, I would gladly make it for your
sake. But I know that it cannot be, and my care now must be to make
the best provision that I can for you."
"I have been very successful since coming here," he went on, speaking
more cheerfully, "more so than I ever dared to hope, and the claim

promises much for the future and ought to bring a good price if sold; so
you will have quite a snug little fortune, my Virgie, and I trust that your
lot in life will yet be happy, in spite of the dark cloud that has so
shadowed it in the beginning. What say you to writing to my old friend,
Laurence Bancroft, of New York, confiding you to his care after----"
"Oh, my father, you make me utterly wretched," cried the young girl,
reaching up her arms and clasping them convulsively about his neck,
while she lifted her tear-stained face appealingly to him.
He bent forward and kissed her white forehead softly with his
trembling lips.
"Bear with me a little longer, my daughter, and then we will never
mention this again while I live," he returned, huskily. "Laurence
Bancroft, as you know, was