A Master's Degree [56]
to marry a man she did not love because he had money. I never knew the man she did love. It was a romance of her girlhood. I was away from home the most of my boyhood years, and she never mentioned his name after the affair was broken off. All I know is that she was deceived and made to believe some cruel story against him. She and her husband came West, where they died. My father never forgave them for going West, nor permitted me to speak her name to him. I never knew why until yesterday. My sister's husband had a brother out here with whom he meant to divide some possessions he had inherited. That settled him with my father forever. There was no DIVISION of property in his creed."
Burgess paused. Dennie's interest and sympathy made her silent company a comfort.
"I was heir to my father's estate, and heir also to some funds he held in trust. I was a scholar with ambition for honors-- a Master's Degree and a high professional place in a great university. I trusted my whole life plans to the man who knew my father best-- Dr. Joshua Wream."
Dennie looked up, questioningly.
"Yes, to Elinor's uncle, as unlike Dr. Fenneben as night and day."
"Do not blame me, Dennie, if two men have helped to misshape my life. My father believed that money is absolute. Dr. Wream holds scholarly achievement as the greatest life work. It has been Dr. Fenneben's part to show me the danger and the power in each."
It was dimly dawning on Burgess that the presence of Dennie, good, sensible Dennie, was a blessing outside of these things that could go far toward making life successful. But he did not grasp it clearly yet.
"Dr. Wream and I made a compact before I came West. It seemed fair to me then. By its terms I was assured, first, of my right to certain funds my father held in trust. It was Wream who secured these rights for me. Second, I was to succeed to his chair in Harvard if I proved worthy in Sunrise. In return I promised to marry Elinor Wream and to provide for her comfort and luxury with these trust funds my father and Wream had somehow been manipulating."
Oh, yes! Dennie was level-headed. And because she did not look up nor cry out Vincent Burgess did not see nor guess anything. His life had been a sheltered one. How could he measure Dennie's life-discipline in self-control and loving bravery?
"Elinor was heavy on Wream's conscience Vincent went on, "because he and her father, Dr. Nathan Wream, took the fortune to endow colleges and university chairs that should have been hers from her mother's estate. You see, Dennie, there was no wrong in the plan. Elinor would be provided for by me. I would get up in my chosen profession. Nobody was robbed or defrauded. Joshua Wream's last years would be peaceful with his conscience at rest regarding Elinor's property. And, Dennie, who would n't want to marry Elinor Wream?"
"Yes, who wouldn't?" Dennie looked up with a smile. And if there were tears in her eyes Burgess knew they were born of Dennie's sweet spirit of sympathy.
"What is wrong, then?" she asked. "Is Elinor unwilling?"
"Elinor and I are bound by promises to each other, although no word has ever been spoken between us. It is impossible to make any change now. We are very happy, of course."
"Of course," Dennie echoed.
"I had a letter from Dr. Wream last night. A pitiful letter, for he's getting near the brink. Dennie--these funds I hold-- I have never quite understood, but I had felt sure there was no other claimant. There was a clause in the strangely-worded bequest: `for V. B. and his heirs. Failing in that, to the nearest related V. B.' It was a thing for lawyers, not Greek professors, to settle, and I came to be the nearest related V. B., Vincent Burgess, for I find the money belonged to my sister's husband, and I thought he left no heirs and I am the nearest related V. B. by marriage, you see?"
"Well?" Dennie's mind was jumping to the end.
"My sister married a Victor Burleigh, who came to Kansas to find his brother. Both men are dead now. The only one of the two families
Burgess paused. Dennie's interest and sympathy made her silent company a comfort.
"I was heir to my father's estate, and heir also to some funds he held in trust. I was a scholar with ambition for honors-- a Master's Degree and a high professional place in a great university. I trusted my whole life plans to the man who knew my father best-- Dr. Joshua Wream."
Dennie looked up, questioningly.
"Yes, to Elinor's uncle, as unlike Dr. Fenneben as night and day."
"Do not blame me, Dennie, if two men have helped to misshape my life. My father believed that money is absolute. Dr. Wream holds scholarly achievement as the greatest life work. It has been Dr. Fenneben's part to show me the danger and the power in each."
It was dimly dawning on Burgess that the presence of Dennie, good, sensible Dennie, was a blessing outside of these things that could go far toward making life successful. But he did not grasp it clearly yet.
"Dr. Wream and I made a compact before I came West. It seemed fair to me then. By its terms I was assured, first, of my right to certain funds my father held in trust. It was Wream who secured these rights for me. Second, I was to succeed to his chair in Harvard if I proved worthy in Sunrise. In return I promised to marry Elinor Wream and to provide for her comfort and luxury with these trust funds my father and Wream had somehow been manipulating."
Oh, yes! Dennie was level-headed. And because she did not look up nor cry out Vincent Burgess did not see nor guess anything. His life had been a sheltered one. How could he measure Dennie's life-discipline in self-control and loving bravery?
"Elinor was heavy on Wream's conscience Vincent went on, "because he and her father, Dr. Nathan Wream, took the fortune to endow colleges and university chairs that should have been hers from her mother's estate. You see, Dennie, there was no wrong in the plan. Elinor would be provided for by me. I would get up in my chosen profession. Nobody was robbed or defrauded. Joshua Wream's last years would be peaceful with his conscience at rest regarding Elinor's property. And, Dennie, who would n't want to marry Elinor Wream?"
"Yes, who wouldn't?" Dennie looked up with a smile. And if there were tears in her eyes Burgess knew they were born of Dennie's sweet spirit of sympathy.
"What is wrong, then?" she asked. "Is Elinor unwilling?"
"Elinor and I are bound by promises to each other, although no word has ever been spoken between us. It is impossible to make any change now. We are very happy, of course."
"Of course," Dennie echoed.
"I had a letter from Dr. Wream last night. A pitiful letter, for he's getting near the brink. Dennie--these funds I hold-- I have never quite understood, but I had felt sure there was no other claimant. There was a clause in the strangely-worded bequest: `for V. B. and his heirs. Failing in that, to the nearest related V. B.' It was a thing for lawyers, not Greek professors, to settle, and I came to be the nearest related V. B., Vincent Burgess, for I find the money belonged to my sister's husband, and I thought he left no heirs and I am the nearest related V. B. by marriage, you see?"
"Well?" Dennie's mind was jumping to the end.
"My sister married a Victor Burleigh, who came to Kansas to find his brother. Both men are dead now. The only one of the two families