"Till you had acquired a fair education, I thought it better to keep the unpleasant truth from you. It would only have annoyed you to feel that you owed everything to my generosity, and were in fact a child of charity."
Kit's face flushed deeply as he heard this expression from his uncle's lips.
"Do you mean that my father left absolutely nothing?" he asked.
"Yes, absolutely nothing. Well, no, not quite that. I think there was a balance of a little over a hundred dollars left after paying all debts. That is hardly worth counting."
"Yes, that is hardly worth counting," said Kit in a dull, mechanical tone.
"Still, I determined to educate you, and give you equal advantages with my own son. I have done so up to the present moment. I wish I could continue to do so, but Ralph is getting more expensive as he grows older (and you also), and I cannot afford to keep you both at school. You will therefore stop studying, and I shall secure you some work."
"If things are as you say, I cannot complain of this," Kit said in a dull, spiritless tone, "but it comes upon me like a thunderbolt."
"No doubt, no doubt. I knew it would be a shock, and I have postponed telling you as long as possible."
"I suppose I ought to thank you. Have you anything more to say to me now?"
"No."