"Oh," said Mrs. Nevis, "that would mean too much or too little to a
Scot."
"Call it, then," said McTavish, "several million pounds."
"Several," Mrs. Nevis reflected.
"Say—three," said McTavish.
Mrs. Nevis sighed. "And where did you gather it all?" she asked.
"Oh, from my father," said McTavish. "And it was given to him by the government."
"Why?" she asked.
"Not why," said he, "so much as how. You see, our government is passionately fond of certain people and makes them very rich. But it's perfectly fair, because at the same time it makes other people, of whom it is not fond, desperately poor. We call it protection," he said. "For instance, my government lets a man buy a Shetland wool sweater in Scotland for two dollars, and lets him sell it on Broadway for twenty dollars. The process makes that man rich in time, but it's perfectly fair, because it makes the man who has to buy the sweater poor."
"But the fool doesn't have to buy it," said Mrs. Nevis.
"Oh yes, he does," said McTavish; "in America—if he likes the look of it and the feel of it—he has to buy. It's the climate, I suppose."