On three successive days the old man held lengthy interviews with Shepler in the latter's private office. At the close of the third day's interview, Shepler sent for Relpin, of the brokerage firm of Relpin and Hendricks. A few days after this Uncle Peter said to Percival one morning: "I want to have a talk with you, son." "All right, Uncle Peter," was the cheerful answer. He suspected the old man might at last be going to preach a bit, since for a week past he had been rather less expansive. He resolved to listen with good grace to any homilies that might issue. He took his suspicion to be confirmed when Uncle Peter began: "You folks been cuttin' a pretty wide swath here in New York." "That's so, Uncle Peter,--wider than we could have cut in Montana City." "Been spendin' money purty free for a year." "Yes; you need money here." "I reckon you can't say about how much, now?" "Oh, I shouldn't wonder," Percival answered, going over to the escritoire, and taking out some folded sheets and several check-books. "Of course, I haven't it all here, but I have the bulk of it. Let me figure a little." He began to work with a pencil on a sheet of paper. He was busy almost half an hour, while Uncle Peter smoked in silence. "It struck me the other night we might have been getting a little near to the limit, so I figured a bit then, too, and I guess this will give you some idea of it. Of course this isn't all mine; it includes ma's and Psyche's. Sis has been a mark for every bridge-player between the Battery and the Bronx, and the way ma has been plunging on her indigent poor is a caution,--she certainly does hold the large golden medal for amateur cross-country philanthropy. Now here's a rough expense account--of course only approximate, except some of the items I happened to have." Uncle Peter took the statement, and studied it carefully. Paid Hightower Hotel................ $ 42,983.75 Keep of horses, and extra horse and carriage hire....................... 5,628.50 Chartering steam-yacht _Viluca_ three months.............................. 24,000.00 Expenses running yacht.............. 46,850.28 W. U. Telegraph Company............. 32.65 Incidentals......................... 882,763.90 Total $1,002,259.08 His sharp old eyes ran up and down the column of figures. Something among the items seemed to annoy him. "Looking at those 'incidentals'? I took those from the check-books. They are pretty heavy." "It's an outrage!" exclaimed the old man, indignantly, "that there $32.50 to the telegraph company. How's it come you didn't have a Western Union frank this year? I s'posed you had one. They sent me mine." "Oh, well, they didn't send me one, and I didn't bother to ask for it," the young man answered in a tone of relief. "Of course the expenses have been pretty heavy, coming here strangers as we did. Now, another year--"