"But where will you get the money?" gasped the squire.
"I can raise ten times that sum, if necessary."
"But I thought you were a poor man?"
"I never told you so. I said I had five hundred dollars; but I didn't add that I am worth at least two hundred thousand dollars more. That was my secret!"
"You said that you invested all your money in some mining shares that depreciated to nothing."
"I foresaw the decline, and sold out at a small loss."
"Why did you deceive us?" asked the squire, irritably.
"I wanted to test you all. When you thought me poor, you gave me my walking ticket; but Mary here," and Uncle Jacob glanced affectionately at Mrs. Barton, "gave me a warm welcome, though she thought me nearly as poor as herself. I shall not forget it. Bert also did not look down upon his old uncle, even though he had little to expect from him."
"But, Uncle Jacob," said Bert, "why, if you are so rich, do you work for twelve dollars a week?"
"It was a harmless deception, Bert," he replied. "I am at the head of the office where you think me employed, and president of one of the richest mines on the Pacific Coast."