‘There were two, I think; but the other one died, and mamma never appointed a successor to him. Mr. Warrington mentioned something about it to me, I remember, but I forgot it again. Will you be the other trustee, Charlie?’ ‘I should like to be so very much, but I cannot say if I am fitted for such a post. You had better ask Warrington. Used Mr. Lovett to send you mamma the interest of these shares regularly?’ ‘I don’t think he did, of late years; but it always came eventually, or we should not have been able to live. It seems very strange, though, that now he should be unable to lay his hand on a few pounds for me, does it not?’ ‘I don’t like it at all, Hilda, and I wish you would write to Warrington about it by this night’s post.’ ‘Suppose my letter should bring him over here?’ ‘All the better if it is necessary! You may be sure he will not come unless he considers it so.’ ‘I shall tell him with twice the confidence now that I have had your advice, Charlie. I was so very undecided whether to write to him or your mother. In fact, I had begun a letter to Mrs. Sandilands when you arrived.’ ‘Mother couldn’t have advised you on her own responsibility. It isn’t a matter for a woman’s decision—nor for a man’s, except he be a lawyer. I hope Warrington may ask you to sell out your shares and invest them in something else. I don’t like tea; it’s so very uncertain. A rainy season—or a dry one—might deprive you of half your income.’ ‘That would be awkward! But I confess to an entire and appalling ignorance concerning shares and selling out and all that kind of thing. I am afraid I did not even know where the money came from till Mr. Warrington told me.’ ‘That is not like your usual sense, Hilda; and since it is all you have to depend upon, I should think the sooner you made yourself acquainted with its source and securities the better.’ ‘Yes, I feel I have been foolish. There is another thing, Charlie. Do you think I could get my money into my own hands? Mr. Warrington promised me I should be quite independent, and I should feel so much more so if I paid Mr. Lovett what we agreed upon, instead of having it kept back from me like a child.’ ‘I should say it would be not only feasible but right that you should manage your own income. I don’t think you have been treated at all fairly, Hilda, and I have not conceived a very high idea of your reverend guardian in consequence.’ ‘You had better wait till you see him and judge for yourself, Charlie. You know the old adage, “What is one man’s meat is another man’s poison.” I may have been viewing the old gentleman through distorted lenses. But I fear the rosiest glasses would never make him look a saint to me again.’ ‘Who’s that foreign-looking chap staring at you, Hilda?’ interposed Charlie, abruptly.