“Oh, Mr. Parsons,” exclaimed Selma, clasping her hands, “how splendid! how glorious!  How I envy you.  It was what I hoped.”

“I knew you would be pleased.  I’ve had half a mind once or twice to let the cat out of the bag, because I guessed it would be the sort of thing that would take your fancy; but somehow I’ve kept mum, for fear I might be taken before I’d been able to make a will.  And then, too, I’ve been of several minds as to the form of my gift.  I thought it would suit me best of all to found a college, and I was disappointed when I learned that neighbor Flagg had got the start of me with his seminary for women across the river.  I wasn’t happy over it until one night, just after the doctor had gone, the thought came to me, ‘Why, not give a hospital?’ And that’s what it’s to be.  Five hundred thousand dollars for a free hospital in the City of Benham, in memory of my wife and daughter.  That’ll be useful, won’t it?  That’ll help the people as much as a college?  And, Selma,” he added, cutting off the assuring answer which trembled on her tongue and blazed from her eyes, “I shan’t forget you.  After I’m gone you are to have twenty thousand dollars.  That’ll enable you, in case you don’t marry, to keep a roof over your head without working too hard.”

“Thank you.  You are very generous,” she said.  The announcement was pleasant to her, but at the moment it seemed of secondary importance.  Her enthusiasm had been aroused by the fact and character of his public donation, and already her brain was dancing with the thought of the prospect of a rival vital institution in connection with which her views and her talents would in all probability be consulted and allowed to exercise themselves.  Her’s, and not Mrs. Taylor’s, or any of that censorious and restricting set.  In that hospital, at least, ambition and originality would be allowed to show what they could do unfettered by envy or paralyzed by conservatism.  “But I can’t think of anything now, Mr. Parsons, except the grand secret you have confided to me.  A hospital!  It is an ideal gift.  It will show the world what noble uses our rich, earnest-minded men make of their money, and it will give our doctors and our people a chance to demonstrate what a free hospital ought to be.  Oh, I congratulate you.  I will write to Mr. Lyons at once.”

A note in prompt response stated the hour when the lawyer would call.  On his arrival he was shown immediately to Mr. Parsons’s apartments, with whom he was closeted alone.  Selma managed to cross the hall at the moment he was descending, and he was easily persuaded to linger and to follow her into the library.

“I was anxious to say a few words to you, Mr. Lyons,” she said.  “I know the purpose for which Mr. Parsons sent for you.  He has confided to me concerning his will—­told me everything.  It is a noble disposition of his property.  A free hospital for Benham is an ideal selection, and one envies him his opportunity.”