Black Jack, page 29 by Max Brand
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was rather a shock at first."
"I know it was. And I wasn't diplomatic. There's too much man in me, Vance. Altogether too much, while you--"
She closed her lips suddenly. But he knew perfectly the unspoken words. She was about to suggest that there was too little man in him. He dropped his chin in his hand, partly for comfort and partly to veil the sneer. If she could have followed what he had done in the past six days!
"And you are used to the new idea?"
"You see that I'm back before the time was up and ahead of my promise," he said.
She nodded. "Which paves the way for another new idea of mine."
He felt that a blow was coming and nerved himself against the shock of it. But the preparation was merely like tensing one's muscles against a fall. When the shock came, it stunned him.
"Vance, I've decided to adopt Terence!"
His fingertips sank into his cheek, bruising the flesh. What would become of his six days of work? What would become of his cunning and his forethought? All destroyed at a blow. For if she adopted the boy, the very law would keep her from denying him afterward. For a moment it seemed to him that some devil must have forewarned her of his plans.
"You don't approve?" she said at last, anxiously.
He threw himself back in the chair and laughed. All his despair went into that hollow, ringing sound.
"Approve? It's a queer question to ask me. But let it go. I know I couldn't change you."
"I know that you have a right to advise," she said gently. "You are my father's son and you have a right to advise on the placing of his name."
He had to keep fighting against surging desires to throw his rage in her face. But he mastered himself, except for a tremor of his voice.
"When are you going to do it?"
"Tomorrow."
"Elizabeth, why not wait until after the birthday ceremony?"
"Because I've been haunted by peculiar fears, since our last talk, that something might happen before that time. I've actual