The Prodigal Son. Hall Sir Caine

timidly:

      "I don't know. Hadn't you better ask Magnus first?"

      "Certainly, my dear--Magnus first, as a matter of course. What do you say, Magnus? Any suggestion to make? Any little improvement? How do you like the contract?"

      There was an awkward silence which astonished the older people, and then came a great surprise. Magnus, who had been sitting with his head down, raised a white and firm-set face and answered:

      "I do not like the contract at all, Factor, and I cannot sign it."

      At this there were looks of bewilderment among the older people, who seemed to be uncertain if they had heard aright, while Thora and Oscar, who partly understood, seemed to be struggling to catch their breath. The Factor was the first to recover his self-possession, and he said, with a slightly supercilious accent:

      "Is that so? I thought I knew something of these matters; but if you think you can draw up a better document, Magnus----"

      But then the Governor interposed: "Some trifle, no doubt," he said suavely. "Magnus will explain. What is the point you object to, my son?"

      There was another moment of tense silence, and then Magnus said in a harsh voice:

      "By this contract I am required to live in Iceland all my life--that's slavery, and I will not submit to it."

      "But, my dear Magnus," said Anna, "don't you see the reason for that? To all intents and purposes Thora is the Factor's only daughter--his only child--and if she goes away, who is to cheer him up and make home bright for him? Be reasonable, Magnus!"

      "Anna, hadn't we better let the young man finish?" said the Factor. "He may have other objections. Have you?"

      "Yes," said Magnus. "According to this contract I am to be taken into partnership on marrying Thora, but only on a quarter share. Partnership is partnership, and where there are two partners it should be half and half--I must have half."

      The company listened in consternation, and the Factor began to laugh. "Why not?" he said in a cynical tone. "Everything is hay in hard weather. I'm so hard up for a son-in-law that I shouldn't stick at a trifle."

      "Old friend," said the Governor, "let us not be too hasty. Perhaps Magnus has not made himself quite plain."

      "As plain as a pikestaff. He wants an equal partnership. But perhaps that is not all. Is there anything else?"

      "Yes, there is, sir," said Magnus, in a rather aggressive manner. "By this deed, when you retire I am to take over the business, but I am only to have one-third share of the profits. I must have two-thirds."

      "In--deed!" said the Factor. "Do you know I thought if I allowed you to come into the business that I had made, and to work it with my plant and my capital, one-third was generous."

      "Most generous!" said the Governor, mopping his forehead. "But Magnus is slow--slow both of thought and speech. He must have some explanation. What do you mean, Magnus? Take your time and speak plainly."

      "I mean, sir," said Magnus, "that the barter business in Iceland will break up before long. When the Factor retires--perhaps before--his business will be worth nothing--not even the name, for that will be less than nothing. A new business will have to be created, and if I am to create it I must have two-thirds of the profits, leaving one-third for the use of the Factor's money."

      The Factor was losing his temper. "Why any at all?" he said. "Why not kick me out altogether? No use beating a dog with a cheese when a whip is handy."

      The company were murmuring at Magnus, when the Governor interposed again. "Magnus," he said, "to say I'm astonished is to say nothing. The Factor has treated you with boundless liberality, but no well is so deep that it can't be emptied, and if you go any farther----"

      "Go any farther!" said the Factor. "Why shouldn't he go farther? It isn't fair play between the wind and a straw, but why shouldn't he beat me about a little more? Anything else to ask, sir?"

      "Yes," said Magnus, without the change of a muscle. "By this contract my wife is to inherit half her father's fortune at his death--she must inherit the whole of it."

      "Good Lord!"

      The exclamation seemed to come from everybody in the general chorus of condemnation which followed.

      "Are you dreaming?" cried the Governor. "Do you forget that the Factor has another daughter?"

      "No, sir, I do not forget it," said Magnus. "But the other daughter has gone away with her mother; she may never come back; and after Thora has spent her life by her father's side--cheering him up and making his home bright, as mother says--and, perhaps, nursing him in his last days--is somebody else, who has done nothing, to sweep off half of all he leaves behind? No! My wife--if I marry--must have everything!"

      The older people, both strangers and members of the family, broke into loud expressions of dissent, while the Factor looked round at them, and said, "An eagle isn't displeased with a dead sheep, is it? And so, Mr. Governor's son," he said, wheeling about on Magnus, "these are the only terms on which you will do me the honor to marry my daughter?"

      Without noticing the sneer, Magnus answered "Yes."

      "Well, I must say I'm deceived in Magnus," said Aunt Margret. "I didn't think he had a selfish thought in his heart."

      "I didn't think," said the Factor, who was not laughing any longer, "I didn't think the son of anybody in Iceland could afford to turn up his nose at a daughter of mine."

      "Neilsen," said the Governor, firmly, "we have been friends since we were boys, and neither of us knows which will bury the other--don't let us quarrel now over the conduct of our children."

      The company murmured approval, and then the Governor turned once more to Magnus.

      "My son--for you are my son, though I'm at a loss to understand it--you are making a breach between two families by asking these utterly impossible terms! Don't you see they are impossible? Have you taken leave of your senses? Are you quite mad? Or is it true that you have been drinking--that you are drunk? Good God!"

      Magnus made no answer, but the painful silence which followed the Governor's outburst was broken by a pitiful cry. It came from Thora. She understood everything at last; she knew what Magnus was doing for her and the price he was going to pay for it; and she wanted to cry out, but could not; so she dropped her head on Aunt Margret's shoulder and wept bitterly.

      Anna mistook Thora's tears for shame and humiliation, and turning to Magnus she said:

      "My dear son, you haven't thought of things in the right way or you couldn't do what you are doing. I don't like these marriage contracts myself. It seems like a tempting of Providence to talk about money and business just when two souls who love one another are joining themselves together and becoming one. But you are making it worse, Magnus--you are making it a mere bargain. And, then, think of Thora! If you refuse her father's offer everybody will hear of it, and the poor girl will be shamed. Do you want to see that, Magnus? I'm sure you do not! So come now, for Thora's sake--even though you don't quite like the Factor's conditions, for Thora's sake, Magnus--will you not?"

      Everybody waited for Magnus's reply, and even Thora raised her head.

      "No," said Magnus, in a voice like a growl, and then he sat with a stolid face while the condemnation of the company fell upon him in a chorus of denunciation. "Infamous!" "Hateful!" "Execrable!" "Damnable!" "The man's heart must be as black as a raven."

      Oscar could bear no more. He had been sitting silent, with head down, as if trying to hide his agitated face, while turning Helga's photograph over and over in his restless fingers; but now he rose, walked to the curtains, which divided the front room from the back, parted them with a trembling hand, and looked out over the lake on which the sun was setting.

      "Don't go away, Oscar," cried the Governor. "I know you are disgusted with your brother's turpitude; but I want you to speak to him for all that. It is hardly likely that having refused to pay attention to his mother or me, he should listen to you or anybody else, but try him. For the honor of the family,