Mencke.
"Then I'll break her will! I came of a resolute stock, too, and it will
be Roman against Roman, with the advantage on my side. She shall never
compromise herself, nor us, by any such misalliance."
Mr. Mencke looked a trifle sheepish at this spirited speech. He could
not forget, if his wife did, that some fourteen years previous he had
been as badly off, if not worse, than this young carpenter. He had been
a laborer in the employ of Miss Belle Huntington's father, and she had
not felt that she was compromising herself or her parents by marrying
him, and the wealthy pork-packer's daughter had run away with the man
whom she loved.
"What will you do to prevent it?" he asked, after a few moments of
awkward silence. "The girl can marry him any day if she takes a notion;
the will says we are to be the guardians of the property 'until she is
twenty-one or marries.' It would make it rather awkward for me if she
should, for her husband would have the right to demand her fortune,
and--Belle, the duse would be to pay if I should lose my hold on that
money."
"What is the matter, Will?" demanded Mrs.
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