e
Richard and start him well in life, but now he would have nothing further
to do with him. It seemed to work upon my uncle's health, all the disgrace
to the family name, although no one ever thought of my uncle in connection
with blame. As he paid Richard's debts, it was not known what the boy had
done, except by the banker, who was a personal friend.

"We went abroad then, and everywhere Uncle amused himself by putting me
under the best music masters, and giving me all possible advantages in
languages, literature, and art. Three years ago he died at Carlsbad, and
after his death I went back to my music studies, following his wishes in
the matter, and staying with a dear old lady in Vienna, who had been kind
to us when we were there before.

"As soon as my uncle's death was known at home, Richard wrote the most
pathetic letter to me, professing deep contrition, and saying he could
never forgive himself for having quarrelled with his dear uncle. He had a
sad tale of how the business that he had started had failed and left him
with debts. If he had only a few hundred dollars, he could go on with it
and pay off everything. He said I had inherited all that would have been
his if he had done right, and he recognized the justice of it, but begged
that I would lend him a small sum until he could get on his feet, when he
would repay me.

"I had little faith in his reformation, but felt as if I could not refuse
him when I was enjoying what might have been his, so I sent him all the
money I had at hand. As I was not yet of age, I could not control all the
property, but my allowance was liberal. Richard continued to send me
voluminous letters, telling of his changed life, and finally asked me to
marry him. I declined emphatically, but he continued to write for money,
always ending with a statement of his undying affection. In disgust, I at
last offered to send him a certain sum of money regularly if he would stop
writing to me on this subject, and finally succeeded in reducing our
correspondence to a check account. This has been going on for three
years, except that he has been constantly asking for larger sums, and
whenever I would say that I could not spare more just then he would begin
telling me how much he cared for me, and how hard it was for him to be
separated from me. I began to feel desperate about him, and made up my
mind that when I received the inheritance I should ask the lawyers to make
some arrangement with him