The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1892-1907, 1904-06-18


their attitudes told him something that
Mary would not have confessed for
worlds. He remember Il now. and
that Dick was poor; and he frowned
again.
A few minutes later some one came
from the sickroom to tell him that Mr.
Kaye was rousing. and he and Mary
went in together.
His keen eyes told him at once that
the change he had expected had oe-
Cured Mr.. Kaye was sinking fast.
His hands travelled restlessly over the
counterpane Mary bent over him.
THE viii. y be cried feebly. II want
to sign"
He pointed to a table on which were
some papers. DIR. Grey brought them.
and a pen and ink. and putting them
before him held him up while he
scratched his name feebly on the
parchment.
Dying men have strange fancies
sometimes, and II had been Mr.. Hayes
fancy during the last few hours to
make a fresh win and to do it without
| a lawyer No one could understand
why, but he had been unaccountably
restless until II was done. Now his
| dying eyes stared dimly at his feeble
signature. and his dngers dropped the
pen.
Read IT," he said slowly. and DIR.
Grey obeyed. II was apparently the
same as his other will, which was at
the moment In his lawyers once, and
this had only been done in order TO
humor a dying man.
DIR. Grey read 1t carefully.
The last will OF me. Godfrey
Kaye" the sick man repeated slowly.
''Yes-everything- my daughter,
Mary-everything to my. daughter.
Mary"
He fell back and stretched out his
hand
Take 1t away now" he said. "Put
1t in my desk yonder. shan't be long
now"
Or. Grey obeyed. ard Mary took her
fathers hand.
"Oh. father. fatherT' she cried under
her breath.
He looked into her face.
MY good little girl" he said slow
| ~. MY good little girl. You'n al
ways remember. Mary want you to
be happy7 You'll remember thatf'
Mary's eyes fiIled. and she put her
head down on the pillow beside him to
hide her tears.
A few days later GeoRery Kaye was
dead. and a few days later still Mary
sat facing a small group Of people In
| the library In Treherne Court. She
looked whittier than ever in her black
mourning frock, and her eyes were
heavy and red trimmed.
Il suppose It Is all right" she said
YEARLY. "If MFR. Guest is satisfied
shall not dispute it. oh. couldn't dis
pute IT,
| The woman who faced her lifted her
head boldly. She was a dark, thickset
woman, as unlike the hate Godfrey
Kaye as Il was possible TO be. Yet.
| nevertheless. there seemed to be not
the slightest doubt that she was his
daughter. Mr.. Guest. the solicitor. and
old DIR. Grey had tried to find some
flaw in her story. but it seemed right
| enough.
twenty-five years ago Mr.. Hayes
wife had deserted him, taking with her
/ her 2-year-old baby. They had been
very poor. and Mrs. Kaye hated pow
erty as herceIy as foolish, empty head
ed women do sometimes hate It. 1t
was Mrs. Hayes one strong emotion
hatred Of the poverty which kept her
from the iuxuries Of life. and she left
It for what she stupidity believed was
! far better.
When Mr.. Kaye got his divorce she
married again. only to plunge some
years later. when her second husband
had run through his fortune, into pow
erty deeper still Apparently II broke
her heart. for she died leaving her
child to the care Of her husband-an
adventurer. swiudler and thief.
How they had lived since her moth
er's death Claudia Kaye did not care
to say, but she had come upon IRE
herne Court by accident $50 she in
formed them, had probably tried to
blackmaIl Mr.. Kaye. and would no
doubt have tried again had he not met
| with the accident. She had seen him
and spoke TO him, she said. and be had
owned her as his daughter.
Now she claimed the estate. and
both Mr. Guest and Or. Grey were dis
heartened and troubled. for the last
will Mr.. Kaye had made had upset
everything and played straight into
the hands Of the woman before them
for he had distinctly written his
daughter instead OF his adopted
daughter" as he had meant to do. His
other Wills each had adopted" prefix
ed. but this last-that strange fancy tC
rewrite his wilI-had undOne every
thing
And 1t was so absolutely unneces
sary-unless. indeed. the memory d
the past had affected him and made
him wish to reinstate his own aaugh
ter