Watson bounced out of the room and slammed the door after her, and once more father and son were left alone.
"Ken, keep that woman out till I've told you what I want to tell you. Is the door shut?"
"Quite shut, father."
"Well, you remember a man of the name of Douglas?"
"No, I don't."
"Oh no, of course you don't. He was parson of the church here when you were away at boarding school; he was only here a few months. I was churchwarden then, and so I saw a good bit of the parson. Well, he preached one Sunday in the church, and the next day I heard as how he was dying. He'd broke a blood-vessel or something o' that sort. He sent across to know, would I go and see him, and when I gets there he says to me:
"'Now, Fortescue,' he says, 'you've handled a lot o' money in your day, and you know what to do with it, and I want you to be so good as to help my wife when I'm gone.' She were there, sobbing away by his bed, a fine-looking woman too! 'I haven't much to leave her and the children,' he says. 'She has a little bit o' money of her own, but all as I've saved I've paid away for insurance, in case anything should happen to me. Now, what I want you to do,' he says, 'is this: to help her to get that money invested in something as will bring her in a good interest, and yet be a safe concern. Now I've never had much to do with money,' he says, 'I've had so little of it; but you've made a big pile, and you do know, and so I want you to help the wife when I'm gone.'
"Well, I promised him, Ken, and that night the poor fellow died. She got her insurance money, and I took charge of it for her and said as how I would invest it and send her the interest. I put it into India three and a half per cents., and forwarded her the dividends reg'lar, just as they came to me. Then this gold mine in Brazil was started, and I put all my own money in it, and I got rattling good returns, and thinks I, why shouldn't poor Mrs. Douglas have a slice of good luck along of me?
"So I put her money in it too. I ought to have asked her leave, Ken, but I didn't. You see, we'd had a bit of a tiff just at that time. She lived in York then, and I used often to run over when her interest was due and take it with me instead of writing; it seemed friendly-like. And I took a great fancy to her, and I wanted her to come and be your ma; but she wouldn't hear of it, and drew herself up, and looked at me in such a way it fair scared me. So I didn't want to go and see her, and I'm a bad hand at letters. I just sent her the money and said I was glad the interest was better, and Ken, she believes to-day that it's still in the India three and a half per cents.!"
"Do you mean to say, father, that all Mrs. Douglas's money is lost?"