and a quiet manner.

The preliminary conversation had not been interesting, pertaining chiefly
to flowers and the weather, and Maurice gave a sigh of satisfaction when,
after a moment's pause, Miss Betty straightened herself and remarked,
"Well, I hear the will is certain to be sustained."

"Then the property will have to be sold?" questioned Mrs. Roberts.

"Yes, and I may as well say good-by to the cream-jug and sugar-dish that
Cousin Anne always said should be mine. Still, I never shall believe
Cousin Thomas was out of his mind when he made that last will, it was too
much like him. Dear knows it ought to be broken, but not on that ground.
It was a case of pure spite."

"Oh, Betty!"

Maurice smiled to himself at his mother's tone.

"I assure you it was. I knew Cousin Thomas. Didn't Cousin Anne tell me
dozens of times in his presence, 'Betty, this is your cream-jug and
sugar-dish, because they match your teapot'?"

"I should think you had enough silver, Betty; still it was a shame Miss
Anne left that list unsigned," said Mrs. Roberts.

"If you knew Cousin Anne at all, Mrs. Roberts, you knew how hesitating
she was. She couldn't decide whether to leave the Canton china to Ellen
Marshall or to Tom's wife. She changed her mind any number of times, but
she was always clear about my cream-jug and sugar-dish. If Cousin Thomas