The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-04-11
CHAPTER ".
A FAITHFUL TRUSTEE.

If, gentle reader, you are proposing
to embark on a career Of what the
harsh world too readily calls crime
and judges reward with a term OF
seclusion, would you rather carry it
on secretly, or would you take your
wife into partnership? 1t is 4 question
which cannot be lightly answered, be-
cause the answer must depend III great
measure on the character and dispo-
sition of the lady. For there are wives
who, like eminent statesmen when
they suddenly and brazenly veer
round and give the lie to all that they
have hitherto said and taught and
professed, are ready to aver that the
thing is the only right thing to do, and
to cover it up with a gliding OF fair
words and pretense, so as to make 1t
appear most beautiful, virtuous and
unselish. Other wives there are again
who can never be brought to see any
thing but the naked ugliness of the
thing standing out in front of the writ
ten law, and refuse any assistance, and
60 melancholy and ashamed.
You will now hear, if you have the
patience to follow up this narrative,
what happened to a mar who adopted
a certain course of action without his
wife's knowledge and consent previous
~ obtained. y I do not know, that is to
say, what Harriet Rolfe would have
said, or what cooperation she would
have afforded her husband. Perhaps
the path whlch$opened out before him,
showing such vistas of ease and de-
light. might have attracted and tempt
ell her as well-but I do not know.
Meantime it is a curious speculation
to think of the difference it might have
made had Harriet herself been a con-
senting party to the line adopted.
1t was not 4 deep-laid conspiracy,
Matched after long meditation and
brooding. Not at all; it grew out of
small beginnings, and was developed,
as such things often are, by the assist
ance of unforeseen circumstances.
James Rolfe knew perfectly well that
he would get nothing from his uncle's
will, and was not in the least surprised
when he learned its contents. The his
tory of five years spent as an articled
clerk in the office, and five more spent
in acquiring experience at the cost of
his patrimony, caused his uncle to re-
solve that his nephew should be left to
make his own way in the world. This
shows what a high opinion he had
formed of his nephew. Further, on
several occasions he communicated this
opinion to James.
Therefore when Tom proposed that
he should prove the will and take over
the management of the property,
James considered it the greatest piece
of luck which had ever befallen him.
At first he sat down, the papers be-
fore him, with all the zeal which n
expects of a man paid by the hour in
stead of by the job, without limit as
to time. He began by investigating the
circumstances connected with the
trust-money, something of which he
already knew.
Next he made, as he thought, the dis
covery that the whole estate was not
more than sufficient to discharge the
trust.
He communicated this unpleasant
discovery to Tom as a fact about
which there was no doubt. 1t had the
Immediate effect of causing Toms de-
parture for Egypt. If it had not been
for that discovery the second chapter
of this book-nay, the whole book
would have been impossible for a
truthful historian.
Now at school the youthful James
had never been able to add up his sums
and to reduce his pounds to pence with
the correctness desired by his masters.
The immediate result was unpleasant;
the more enduring result was hatred
and continued ignorance of all mathe-
NAUTICAL science. Therefore, as an ac-
countant, he %blundered. And it was
not until Tom was gone that he found
out what q big blunder he had made.
Never mind, when he returned there
would be time to set him right.
Six weeks after his departure there
came the first alarming telegram in
the papers.
James Rolfe read it and changed
color. Then he reflected, and winked
hard with both eyes. Some men turn
red OF pale or both; others fdget with
their hands; others wriggle i'll their
chairs: James Rolfe Winked with both
eyes.
The next day and the next and the
day after there came more kilograms