Which was precisely what Uncle Evarts did. He let the train at the junction go its way without him, and went as soon as he could to Judge Westlake’s office; only to find him in court for the day. But this business was much too serious to be put aside for small matter like that; so he lunched at restaurant, took a motor ride out to the park and around Dupont Circle, and in other ways got rid of time until court adjourned. Then he sent in his card; he knew the great man by reputation, but he used to know him as a boy. For that, or some other reason, he was promptly admitted. Preliminaries over, he poured out questions, and Judge Westlake answered as many of them as he chose.
Yes, it was true that Miss Elsie Forman had bought 1200 Dupont Circle; yes, she had paid cash down, it was not to be had on any other terms.
Oh, yes, it was as fine an investment as the city afforded. It was a whim on the part of the owner to get it off his hands at once for cash.
Yes, that was true, too; she had deeded it to her niece, Mrs. Ray Forman Forsythe, as a wedding gift.
It was then that Uncle Evarts lost his studied self-control and waxed eloquent and indignant. He wanted to know what kind of a man Judge Westlake thought himself to be, to take advantage of a woman utterly ignorant of business matters and of values and allow her to spend all she had—money which she had raked and scraped and hoarded through the years in order to have something for her crippled old age—on a wedding present! He went on, and on, and on, as Uncle Evarts had a lifelong habit of doing; he said the same things over again, and yet again, in more forceful ways, and added other thoughts as they came to him; many of them not especially complimentary to the judge, with whose composed listening he grew more angry every minute.
Up to this point in the interview Judge Westlake, as his custom was, had used as few words as circumstances would permit. Then he listened, sitting in silence for a moment even after the flow of words had ceased, and his caller sat glaring at him, waiting for what excuse he could possibly offer for his folly. Then the Judge stopped fingering the business papers on his desk, squared himself for a full view of his guest, and began:
“If you are quite through, Forman, there are a few things that I have decided to say to you. I knew you when we were boys together, you remember, and I knew your sister Elsie. I know her now. I also knew her brother Derrick, and believed in him even after you had entirely cast him off. So did your sister Elsie. I knew when she came to this city that she had a purpose in coming. She had certain suspicions which she wanted to have either removed or confirmed. She wanted to make the intimate acquaintance of your brother Joseph’s family, which was her chief reason for choosing his house as a place of residence, instead of an Old Ladies’ Home, which, I believe, you suggested to her. She has been able to carry out her desires, and has proved that her suspicions were founded on fact. She was for a term of years the sole regular correspondent of your brother Derrick; and through him she learned a number of things that helped her in reaching conclusions. I believe you are fully aware of your brother Joseph’s financial straits, which you also know, of course, were brought about through no fault of his own, but under circumstances that reflect honor upon his strict integrity. Your sister did not know about these matters, and the family did not enlighten her; they made sacrifices, as you have already hinted, in order to receive her, and they opened not only their home but their hearts to her. In view of this it is not surprising that she has adopted them all as her very own. Now it happens that she had certain trust monies which she was to bestow upon this particular family, if it should come to pass that they could—without knowing anything about them—meet the conditions. Those conditions have been abundantly met.”
“The mortgage, which, of course, you know has been a weight about your brother Joseph’s neck for years, was disposed of with a portion of that trust money; the house on Dupont Circle was bought with some of it, and will be furnished from the same fund; it is very large; I may possibly be overstepping the bounds of a business interview, yet I feel moved to relieve your natural anxiety for your brother’s welfare by assuring you that I am reasonably certain, because of that trust fund, that money matters will not be likely to trouble his future; and that young man, your nephew, who is also, of course you remember, the nephew and namesake of your brother Derrick—I may as well tell you that when he is through with university and theological seminary, and ready to enter upon his life work, he will not need to worry about salaries; the fact is he would be able to live a reasonably long life without any salary at all. This last statement I am making in strict confidence, young man himself has, as yet, no idea of any such thing.
“But I wanted to relieve your anxiety about all these relatives, and to convince you also that your sister Elsie has not reduced herself to beggary by these financial transactions. In fact, a note from her received this morning instructed me to give you proof that you had no need to worry about her. For reasons which, after what you have been saying to me, I am sure you will appreciate, I have determined to go beyond the letter of my instructions and tell you that Miss Elsie Forman is a very wealthy woman. The brother, Derrick Forman, to whom I have several times referred, had a remarkably well-developed business faculty; in that new country, to which he went after his family had lost confidence in him, he set to work with the energy that had characterized his early boyhood, and won the confidence of those who employed him. He bought a piece of land that doubled in value before he had owned it for six months, and from that point he went steadily forward. He seemed to have ability to foresee the future from a business standpoint in a way that was really remarkable. I was very early taken into his confidence in a business way, and it chanced that I was able to aid him occasionally in making investments. Then he became interested in miners, and through them in mines. The results, so far as the miners were concerned, were tremendous, and are not to be measured by any estimates that we know how to make in this world—your sister can tell you much about them; but with the financial part I am very well acquainted, as I had the honor of being his business adviser; he had heavy interests in more than one of the paying mines, and was himself the owner of one of the best. In short, Mr. Forman, your sister Elsie, entirely apart from this trust fund, of which I have told you, is by far the wealthiest woman in this city. There is no reason why she could not buy a whole block of houses on Dupont Circle, if they were for sale, and have plenty of money left to pay taxes.”
The man of affairs had talked on steadily, waving away at first, with an imperative hand, an occasional attempt at interruption; he was not a man to be interrupted when he chose to talk. As the story progressed his listener ceased to attempt even a question; he sat like one spellbound. He listened to the end. He said very little afterwards. He got himself away as soon as he could; he walked the length of three blocks in the opposite direction from that which he should have taken, lost in bewildering, whirling thought.