"Oh, a month!" I said, somewhat taken aback. "With hard labour?"
"I think we ought to be able to manage that. We'll try our best."
"That is very good of you indeed; but I shouldn't like you to put yourselves out at all."
"I'll tell you what," he said, with a laugh, "we will tell them that in the country you come from it isn't a crime to give your money away. Could you remember to stick to that story?"
"I dare say I might," I said, "if I tie a knot in my handkerchief. By the way, isn't it a crime here to take money from people, and watches, and so on?"
"A crime! Of course not. We should call that philanthropy."
"Oh, I see. Then your father is a philanthropist."
"Of course he is; one of the best known in Culbut. You don't really suppose he is the rich man he appears to be, do you?"
"I should have thought he might be fairly well off, if he has been practising philanthropy for any length of time."