"Pay!--no human mortal could pay for this house!" flashed Rachel
indignantly. Then she turned to Hazelton, her slight form drawn to its
greatest height, and her hands crushing the flowers, she held till the
brittle stems snapped, releasing a fluttering shower of scarlet and
gold. "Mr. Hazelton, to carry out certain wishes very near to our
hearts, we need money. We will show you the place, and--and we will
consider your offer," she finished faintly. It was a dreary journey the
sisters took that morning, though the garden never had seemed lovelier,
nor the rooms more sacredly beautiful. In the end, Hazelton's offer was
so fabulously enormous to their unwilling ears that their conscience
forbade them to refuse it.
"I'll have the necessary papers ready to sign in a few days," said the
lawyer as the two gentlemen turned to go. And Hazelton added: "If at any
time before that you change your minds and find you cannot give it up--
just let me know and it will be all right. Just think it over till
then," he said kindly, the dumb woe in their eyes appealing to him as
the loudest lamentations could not have done. "But if you don't mind,
I'd like to have an architect, who is in town just now, come up and look
it over with me," he finished.
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