He tried gently to lead his thoughts away from what seemed to be troubling him, for his head turned restlessly on the pillow.
"You have no need to think of that," he said kindly and quietly, "for as you have just been saying, John will inherit nothing but well-earned property."
"John does not know of this," said Augustus. "I have drawn it out for years by degrees, as he supposed, for household expenses. It is all in Bank of England notes. Every month that I lived it would have become more and more."
Uncommonly circumstantial this!
"It contains seventeen hundred pounds; take it in your hand, and hear me."
"Yes, uncle."
"You cannot live on a very small income. You have evidently very little notion of the value of money. You and John may not agree. It may not suit him to have you with him; on the other hand—on the other hand—what was I saying?"
"That it might not suit John to have me with him."
"Yes, yes; but, on the other hand (where is it gone), on the other hand, it might excite his curiosity, his surprise, if I left you more in my will. Now what am I doing this for? What is it? Daniel's son? Yes."
"Dear uncle, try to collect your thoughts; there is something you want me to do with this money, try to tell me what it is."