tephen," said Kit,
firmly.

"Be it so! Perhaps you are right. Let me tell you in the briefest terms,
then, that in his later years your father speculated in Wall Street--not
heavily, for he had not the means, but heavily for one of his property.
Of course he lost. Almost every one does, who ventures into the
'street.' His first losses, instead of deterring him from further
speculation, led him on to rasher ventures. It was then that he came to
me for money."

"Didn't you urge him to give up speculating?" asked Kit.

"Yes, but my words availed little. Perhaps you will think I ought to
have refused him loans, but he assured me in the strongest terms that
unless he obtained money from some source he would be ruined, and I
yielded. I might have been weak--it was weak, for I stood a chance of
losing all, having merely his notes of hand to show for the money I
lent. But it is hard to refuse a brother. I think I should do the same
again."

Kit was silent. His uncle's words were warm, and indicated strong
sympathy for Kit's father, but his tone was cold, and there seemed a
lack of earnestness. Kit could not repress a feeling of incredulity.
There was another obstacle to his accepting with full credence the tale
which his uncle told him. He had always understood from his father that
his uncle was a poor and struggling man. How could he have in his
possession the sum of twelve thousand dollars to lend his brother? This
question was certainly difficult to answer. He paused, then refraining
from discussing the subject, said:

"Why have you not told me this before, Uncle Stephen?"

"Would it have made you any happier?" returned Stephen Watson.

"No."

"Till you had acquired a fair education, I thought it better to keep the
unpleasant truth from you. It would only have annoyed you to feel that
you owed everything to my generosity, and were in fact a child of
charity."

Kit's face flushed deeply as he heard this expression from his uncle's
lips.

"Do you mean that my father left absolutely nothing?" he asked.

"Yes, absolutely nothing. Well, no, not quite that. I think there was a
balance of a little over a hundred dollars left after paying all debts.
That is hardly worth counting."

"Yes, that is hardly worth counting," said Kit in a dull, mechanical
tone.

"Still, I determined to educate you, and give you equal advantages with
my own son. I have done so up to the present moment. I wish I could
continue to do so, b