years Ernest would have many times over as much money as he had lost, but
I knew also that he did not know this, and feared that the supposed loss
of all he had in the world might be more than he could stand when coupled
with his other misfortunes.

The prison authorities had found Theobald's address from a letter in
Ernest's pocket, and had communicated with him more than once concerning
his son's illness, but Theobald had not written to me, and I supposed my
godson to be in good health. He would be just twenty-four years old when
he left prison, and if I followed out his aunt's instructions, would have
to battle with fortune for another four years as well as he could. The
question before me was whether it was right to let him run so much risk,
or whether I should not to some extent transgress my instructions--which
there was nothing to prevent my doing if I thought Miss Pontifex would
have wished it--and let him have the same sum that he would have
recovered from Pryer.

If my godson had been an older man, and more fixed in any definite
groove, this is what I should have done, but he was still very young, and
more than commonly unformed for his age. If, again, I had known of his
illness I should not have dared to lay any heavier burden on his back
than he had to bear already; but not being uneasy about his health, I
thought a few years of roughing it and of experience concerning the
importance of not playing tricks with money would do him no harm. So I
decided to keep a sharp eye upon him as soon as he came out of prison,
and to let him splash about in deep water as best he could till I saw
whether he was able to swim, or was about to sink. In the first case I
would let him go on swimming till he was nearly eight-and-twenty, when I
would prepare him gradually for the good fortune that awaited him; in the
second I would hurry up to the rescue. So I wrote to say that Pryer had
absconded, and that he could have 100 pounds from his father when he came
out of prison. I then waited to see what effect these tidings would
have, not expecting to receive an answer for three months, for I had been
told on enquiry that no letter could be received by a prisoner till after
he had been three months in gaol. I also wrote to Theobald and told him
of Pryer's disappearance.

As a matter of fact, when my letter arrived the governor of the gaol read
it, and in a case of such importance would have relaxed the rules if
Ernest's st