. Father is a very shrewd man, and Uncle Roger is a very rich one.

But I don't think Uncle R--- is as shrewd as he thinks he is. He
sometimes makes awful mistakes in business. For instance, some years ago
he bought an enormous estate on the Adriatic, in the country they call
the "Land of Blue Mountains." At least, he says he bought it. He told
father so in confidence. But he didn't show any title-deeds, and I'm
greatly afraid he was "had." A bad job for me that he was, for father
believes he paid an enormous sum for it, and as I am his natural heir, it
reduces his available estate to so much less.

And now about Rupert. As I have said, he ran away when he was about
fourteen, and we did not hear about him for years. When we--or, rather,
my father--did hear of him, it was no good that he heard. He had gone as
a cabin-boy on a sailing ship round the Horn. Then he joined an
exploring party through the centre of Patagonia, and then another up in
Alaska, and a third to the Aleutian Islands. After that he went through
Central America, and then to Western Africa, the Pacific Islands, India,
and a lot of places. We all know the wisdom of the adage that "A rolling
stone gathers no moss"; and certainly, if there be any value in moss,
Cousin Rupert will die a poor man. Indeed, nothing will stand his
idiotic, boastful wastefulness. Look at the way in which, when he came
of age, he made over all his mother's little fortune to the MacSkelpie! I
am sure that, though Uncle Roger made no comment to my father, who, as
Head of our House, should, of course, have been informed, he was not
pleased. My mother, who has a good fortune in her own right, and has had
the sense to keep it in her own control--as I am to inherit it, and it is
not in the entail, I am therefore quite impartial--I can approve of her
spirited conduct in the matter. We never did think much of Rupert,
anyhow; but now, since he is in the way to be a pauper, and therefore a
dangerous nuisance, we look on him as quite an outsider. We know what he
really is. For my own part, I loathe and despise him. Just now we are
irritated with him, for we are all kept on tenterhooks regarding my dear
Uncle Roger's Will. For Mr. Trent, the attorney who regulated my dear
uncle's affairs and has possession of the Will, says it is necessary to
know where every possible beneficiary is to be found before making the
Will public, so we all have to wait. It is especially hard o