“Well, for thirty years I was faithful to my trust. Had any one told me then that to-day I should be a thief, I would have felled him to the ground and spurned him with my foot. Ten years ago a dear friend of mine died, leaving his only child in my care, together with a property of fifty thousand dollars. I invested it in what I believed to be a sound concern, but in less than a year it failed, and my friend’s child was penniless.” “How sorry I am,” was Brownie’s simple comment, and deeply impressed in the lawyer’s tale. He smiled bitterly, but clasping her hand more firmly, went on: “I then did something which was not right, but which I thought must succeed, and everything would be all right again. I felt that I was entirely to blame for the loss of my ward’s property, and that I was in duty bound to replace it. I had no ready funds of my own, but I knew that your aunt, with her vast wealth, would not miss fifty thousand dollars for a little while, and I resolved to use it—speculate in what promised to be a very successful operation, hoping thus to win back a portion at least of what I had lost for my ward. I staked it and lost!” “Ah!” ejaculated the clergyman, with a sorrowful shake of the head. “Whew!” whistled the doctor. “Horrid man!” breathed Miss Huntington, under her breath. But Brownie only nestled a step nearer the poor man’s side. “Driven desperate by this unfortunate circumstance,” he went on, with a deep sigh, “I grew reckless, and invested a hundred thousand more of Miss Douglas’ money, but again I lost. Then a bank where I had deposited a very large amount of her funds suddenly suspended payment; but hoping that all would come out right by and by, I kept all knowledge of the difficulty from her. You know that the old lady loved the good things of this life, and was not at all careful of the dollars; and she need not have been, had I been faithful. But I continued to speculate with what ready money I could get hold of, and, with her annual expenditure, her thousands have melted into hundreds; and to-day, when she thought you would inherit at least a million, I have to tell you, that if I pay the debts and the legacies to the servants, there will not remain sufficient to feed you for a year. I, who always prided myself upon my integrity and my incorruptibility, have forfeited my character for probity and honesty, and stand here before you a criminal worthy to suffer the extent of the law.” He paused for a moment, but as no one spoke, he continued: “This is my confession; and now I surrender myself into your hands, to do with me as you will. I had no right whatever to touch a penny of your aunt’s money. I was deeply distressed at the loss of my ward’s property, but I ought to have stopped there. However, having once failed of success in using Miss Douglas’ money, I kept on, hoping, in my desperation, that some favorable turn in fortune’s wheel would enable me to replace everything.”