The Little Warrior - Penn State University

terrible, the criminal thing I have done! I blame myself,”
said Uncle Chris cordially, flicking another speck
of dust off his sleeve. “I blame myself bitterly. Your
mother ought never to have made me your trustee,
my dear. But she always believed in me, in spite of
everything, and this is how I have repaid her.” He blew
his nose to cover a not unmanly emotion. “I wasn’t
fitted for the position. Never become a trustee, Jill. It’s
the devil, is trust money. However much you argue
with yourself, you can’t—dash it, you simply can’t believe
that it’s not your own, to do as you like with.
There it sits, smiling at you, crying ‘Spend me! Spend
me!’ and you find yourself dipping—dipping—till one
day there’s nothing left to dip for—only a far-off rustling—the
ghosts of dead bank-notes. That’s how it was
with me. The process was almost automatic. I hardly
knew it was going on. Here a little—there a little. It was
like snow melting on a mountain-top. And one morning—all
gone!” Uncle Chris drove the point home with
a gesture. “I did what I could. When I found that there
were only a few hundreds left, for your sake I took a
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chance. All heart and no head! There you have Christopher
Selby in a nutshell! A man at the club—a fool
named—I’ve forgotten his damn name—recommended
Amalgamated Dyestuffs as a speculation. Monroe, that
was his name, Jimmy Monroe. He talked about the
future of British Dyes now that Germany was out of
the race, and … well, the long and short of it was that
I took his advice and bought on margin. Bought like
the devil. And this morning Amalgamated Dyestuffs
went all to blazes. There you have the whole story!”
“And now,” said Jill, “comes the sequel!”
“The sequel?” said Uncle Chris breezily. “Happiness,
my dear, happiness! Wedding bells and—and all that
sort of thing!” He straddled the hearth-rug manfully,
and swelled his chest out. He would permit no pessimism
on this occasion of rejoicing. “You don’t suppose
that the fact of your having lost your money—that
is to say—er—of my having lost your money—will affect
a splendid young fellow like Derek Underhill? I know
him better than to think that! I’ve always liked him.
He’s a man you can trust! Besides,” he added reflec-