"I do. Oh, Judge Baxter, please don't think I am asking this for any selfish reasons. I am not, indeed I'm not! All my life, ever since I was old enough to think of such things at all, I have supposed--I have been led to believe that my stepfather left me plenty of money--money enough to pay my uncles for taking care of me, for my clothes and board, and now, during these last two years, for my studies in Boston. I never, never should have consented to go to that school if I hadn't supposed I was paying the expenses myself. I knew my uncles were not well-to-do; I knew they could not afford to--to do what they had already done for me, even before that. And now--last night--I was told that--that they were in great financial trouble, that they would probably be obliged to fail in business, and all because they had been spending their money on me, sacrificing themselves and their comfort and happiness in order that 'an adopted niece with extravagant ideas' might be educated above her station; that is the way the gentleman who told me the story put it. Of course he didn't know he was talking to the niece," she added, with a pathetic little smile; "but, oh, Judge, can't you see now why I must know the truth--all of the truth?'
Her fingers clasped and unclasped in her lap. The Judge laid his own hand upon them.
"There, there, my dear," he said soothingly. "Tut, tut, tut!
What's all this about your uncles failing in business? That isn't possible, is it? Tell me the whole thing, just as it was told to you."
So Mary told it, concluding by exhibiting Isaiah Chase's letter.
"It must be very bad, you see," she said. "Isaiah never would have written if it had not been. It is hard enough to think that while I was enjoying myself in Europe and at school they were in such trouble and keeping it all to themselves. That is hard enough, when I know how they must have needed me. But if it should be true that it is their money--money they could not possibly spare--that I have been spending--wasting there in Boston, I--I-- Please tell me, Judge Baxter! Have I any money of my own? Please tell me."
The Judge rose and walked up and down the floor, his brows drawn together and his right hand slapping his leg at each turn. After seven or eight of these turns he sat down again and faced his caller.
"Mary," he said, "suppose this story about your uncles' financial and business troubles should be true, what will you do?"
Mary met his look bravely. Her eyes were moist, but there was no hesitation in her reply.
"I shall stay at home and help them in any way I can," she said.
"There will be no more Boston and no more school for me. They need me there at home and I am going home--to stay."
"Whether it is your money or theirs which has paid for your education?"
"Certainly. Of course I never should have gone away at all if I had not supposed my own money were paying the expenses. Judge, you haven't answered my question--and yet I think--I am afraid that you have answered it. It was their money that paid, wasn't it?"
Judge Baxter was silent for a moment, as if in final deliberation.
Then he nodded, solemnly.
"Yes, Mary," he said, "it was their money. In fact, it has been their money which has paid for most things in your life. Shadrach Gould and Zoeth Hamilton aren't, maybe, the best business men in the world, but they come pretty near to being the best MEN, in business or out of it, that I have met during seventy odd years on this planet. I think, perhaps, it will be well for you to know just how good they have been to you. Now, listen!"
He began at the beginning, at the day of Marcellus Hall's funeral, when he read the letter to Shadrach and Zoeth, the letter intrusting Mary-'Gusta to their care. He told of Marcellus's unfortunate investments, of the loss of the latter's fortune, and how, when the estate was settled, there were but a few hundreds where it was expected there might be a good many thousands.
"Don't make any mistake, Mary," he said earnestly. "Your uncles knew there was little or no money when they decided to take you.
They took you simply for yourself, because they cared so much for you, not because they were to make a cent from the guardianship.
Everything you have had for the past two years their money has paid for and you may be absolutely certain they never have grudged a penny of it. The last time I saw Captain Gould he was glorying in having the smartest and best girl in Ostable County. And Mr. Hamilton--"
She interrupted him. "Don't, please!" she said chokingly. "Please don't tell me any more just now. I--I want to think."
"There isn't any more to tell," he said gently. "I am going into the next room. I shall be back in a few minutes. Then, if you care to, we can talk a little more."
When he returned she had risen and was standing by the window looking out into the back yard. She was calm and even smiled a little as he entered, although the smile was a rather pitiful one.
Of the two the Judge looked the more perturbed.
"Whew!" he exclaimed, after carefully closing the door behind him.
"I've been doing a little thinking my self, young lady, since I left you here. I've been thinking that I had better take a trip to Canada or China or somewhere and start in a hurry, too. When your uncles find out that I told you this thing they have succeeded in keeping from you all this time--well, it will be high time for me to be somewhere else." He laughed and then added gravely: "But I still think I was right in telling you. Under the circumstances it seems to me that you should know."
