“What?” I said. “Augusta! But surely she cannot afford it?”
“I think it could be arranged. I take an interest in her, poor child! There is no doubt she is wonderfully clever; but just at present she is very one-sided in all her views. Her intellect is somewhat warped by her having all her aspirations and desires forced into one channel.”
“Then, step-mother, you are going to support her?”
“Certainly not. It is true I may make it possible for those who could not otherwise afford it. I have spoken to her mother on the subject, and perhaps her mother can be helped by some of her relations; it would certainly be the making of Augusta.”
“You are wonderfully kind,” I said.
“What am I put into the world for except to help others?”
“Is it true,” I asked suddenly, and I laid my hand on her lap, “that you are very rich?”
“Who told you that?” she said, the colour coming into her face. She looked at me in a distressed way.
“Only I want to know.”
“All I can tell you in reply to your question is this: that whatever money God has given me is to be spent not on myself but for Him—for Him and for those whom I am privileged to help. I do not want to talk of riches, for it is impossible for a child like you, with your narrow experience, to understand that money is a great gift; it is a talent little understood by many; nevertheless, one of the most precious of all. Few who have money quite know how to spend it worthily.”