Part 4 (2/2)
”Ever since your father's death I have supported you, not because I was morally or legally bound to do so, but because you were my nephew.”
”But didn't my father leave any property?” asked Kit in amazement.
”He was supposed to have done so.”
”This house and grounds are surely worth a good deal of money!”
”So they are,” answered Stephen Watson, dryly, ”but unfortunately they did not belong to your father.”
”This is certainly a mistake,” exclaimed Kit, indignantly.
”Wait till I have finished. These stood in your father's name, but there was a mortgage of two thousand dollars held by the Smyrna Savings Bank.”
”Surely the place is worth far more than two thousand dollars!”
”Curb your impatience, and you will soon understand me. The place _is_ worth far more than two thousand dollars. I consider it worth ten thousand.”
”Then I don't see----”
”Your father left large debts, which of course had to be paid. I was therefore obliged to sell the estate, in order to realize the necessary funds.”
”For how much did you sell the place?”
”For nine thousand dollars. I regarded that as a good price, considering that it was paid in cash or the equivalent.”
”To whom did you sell?”
”I bought it in myself; I was not willing that the place which my brother had loved so well, should pa.s.s into the hands of strangers.”
”May I ask who was my father's princ.i.p.al creditor?” asked Kit.
”Ahem! I was,” answered Stephen Watson, in a tone of slight embarra.s.sment.
”You!” exclaimed Kit, in fresh surprise.
”Yes; your father owed me twelve thousand dollars borrowed at various times.”
”How could he have been obliged to borrow so much?” asked Kit. ”He always seemed comfortably situated. I never once heard him complain of being pressed for money.”
”Very likely; he was very reticent about his affairs. I would explain, but the matter is rather a delicate one.”
”I think I am ent.i.tled to know all about it, Uncle Stephen,” said Kit, firmly.
”Be it so! Perhaps you are right. Let me tell you in the briefest terms, then, that in his later years your father speculated in Wall Street--not heavily, for he had not the means, but heavily for one of his property.
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