"Oh! if all you doubt is my sincerity，I am easy: you see the justice of the case?"

"I do see a certain justice; but it is contrary to all custom.

Besides，the entire fortune is your right: my uncle gained it by his own efforts; he was free to leave it to whom he would: he left it to you. After all，justice permits you to keep it: you may，with a clear conscience，consider it absolutely your own."

"With me," said I，"it is fully as much a matter of feeling as of conscience: I must indulge my feelings; I so seldom have had an opportunity of doing so. Were you to argue，object，and annoy me for a year，I could not forego the delicious pleasure of which I have caught a glimpse- that of repaying，in part，a mighty obligation，and winning to myself life-long friends."

"You think so now," rejoined St. John，"because you do not know what it is to possess，nor consequently to enjoy wealth: you cannot form a notion of the importance twenty thousand pounds would give you; of the place it would enable you to take in society; of the prospects it would open to you: you cannot-"

"And you," I interrupted，"cannot at all imagine the craving I have for fraternal and sisterly love. I never had a home，I never had brothers or sisters; I must and will have them now: you are not reluctant to admit me and own me，are you?"

"Jane，I will be your brother- my sisters will be your sisters- without stipulating for this sacrifice of your just rights."

"Brother? Yes; at the distance of a thousand leagues! Sisters? Yes; slaving amongst strangers! I，wealthy- gorged with gold I never earned and do not merit! You，penniless! Famous equality and fraternisation! Close union! Intimate attachment!"