Uncle Robert placed the coins in neat piles, then he commenced to stack the paper money. After he had done this, he sorted out five checks, which he laid by themselves quite respectfully, face down.
Then he drew out a pencil and paper and commenced to count. No one spoke. At the last, still keeping the faces of the five checks out of sight, he added them in, covered the paper with his hand, and looked up. He seemed dazed.
“How much do you think?” he demanded.
“Don’t make us guess, Robert,” said his mother.
“Two thousand, two hundred and thirty-four dollars and twenty-five cents,” he said slowly.
“Impossible!” exclaimed Mrs. Hargrave sharply.
Miss Hooker gave a gasp. The girls, perfectly round-eyed, sat silent.
“There it is!” said Mr. Horton. “Mr. Bristol and Mr. Cosgrove each gave a check for five hundred dollars, and Mr. Harriman wrote his for five hundred and fifty.”
Mrs. Horton sniffed.