Aunt Jane had a bad night, as might have been expected after her trials of the previous day.  
She sent for Patricia early in the forenoon, and when the girl arrived she was almost shocked by the change in her aunt's appearance. The invalid¹'s face seemed drawn² and gray, and she lay upon her cushions breathing heavily and without any appearance of vitality³ or strength. Even the sharpness and piercing quality of her hard gray eyes was lacking and the glance she cast at her niece was rather pleading than defiant⁴.
 
"I want you to reconsider your decision of yesterday, Patricia," she begun.
 
"Don't ask me to do that, aunt," replied the girl, firmly. "My mind is fully⁵ made up."
 
"I have made mistakes, I know," continued the woman feebly; "but I want to do the right thing, at last."
 
"Then I will show you how," said Patricia, quickly. "You mustn't think me impertinent, aunt, for I don't mean to be so at all. But tell me; why did you wish to leave me your money?"
 
"Because your nature is quite like my own, child, and I admire your independence and spirit."
 
"But my cousins are much more deserving," said she, thoughtfully.
"Louise is very sweet and amiable⁶, and loves you more than I do, while
Beth is the most sensible and practical girl I have ever known."
"It may be so," returned Aunt Jane, impatiently; "but I have left each a legacy⁷, Patricia, and you alone are my choice for the mistress of Elmhurst. I told you yesterday I should not try to be just. I mean to leave my property according to my personal desire, and no one shall hinder me." This last with a spark of her old vigor⁸.
 
"But that is quite wrong, aunt, and if you desire me to inherit your wealth you will be disappointed. A moment ago you said you wished to do the right thing, at last. Don't you know what that is?"
 
"Perhaps you will tell me," said Aunt Jane, curiously⁹.
 
"With pleasure," returned Patsy. "Mr. Bradley left you this property because he loved you, and love blinded him to all sense of justice. Such an estate should not have passed into the hands of aliens because of a lover's whim¹⁰. He should have considered his own flesh and blood."
 
"There was no one but his sister, who at that time was not married and had no son," explained Aunt Jane, calmly. "But he did not forget her and asked me to look after Katherine Bradley in case she or her heirs ever needed help. I have done so. When his mother died, I had the boy brought here, and he has lived here ever since."
 
"But the property ought to be his," said Patricia, earnestly. "It would please me beyond measure to have you make your will in his favor, and you would be doing the right thing at last."
 
"I won't," said Aunt Jane, angrily.
 
"It would also be considerate and just to the memory of Mr. Bradley," continued the girl. "What's going to became of Kenneth?"
 
"I have left him five thousand," said the woman.
 
"Not enough to educate him properly," replied Patsy, with a shake of her head. "Why, the boy might become a famous artist, if he had good masters; and a person with an artistic¹¹ temperament¹², such as his, should have enough money to be independent of his art."
 
Aunt Jane coughed, unsympathetically.
 
"The boy is nothing to me," she said.
 
"But he ought to have Elmhurst, at least," pleaded the girl. "Won't you leave it to him, Aunt Jane?"
 
"No."
 
"Then do as you please," cried Patsy, flying angry in her turn. "As a matter of justice, the place should never have been yours, and I won't accept a dollar of the money if I starve to death!"
 
"Think of your father," suggested Aunt Jane, cunningly.
 
"Ah, I've done that," said the girl, "and I know how many comforts I could buy for the dear Major. Also I'd like to go to a girl's college, like Smith or Wellesley, and get a proper education. But not with your money, Aunt Jane. It would burn my fingers. Always I would think that if you had not been hard and miserly this same money would have saved my mother's life. No! I loathe¹³ your money. Keep it or throw it to the dogs, if you won't give it to the boy it belongs to. But don't you dare to will your selfish hoard¹⁴ to me."
 
"Let us change the subject, Patricia."
 
"Will you change your will?"
 
"No.".
 
"Then I won't talk to you. I'm angry and hurt, and if I stay here I'll say things I shall be sorry for."
 
With these words she marched out of the room, her cheeks flaming, and
Aunt Jane looked after her with admiring eyes.
"She's right," she whispered to herself. "It's just as I'd do under the same circumstances!"
 
This interview was but the beginning of a series that lasted during the next fortnight, during which time the invalid persis............