"What!" said Aunt Victoria incredulously, "the shares you advised me to buy?"
"But, then--I fear you have lost money too," she exclaimed.
"Oh no, thank you," he assured her, in a tone which implied reproach, "_I_ never speculate."
"James Patten," said Aunt Victoria quietly, "am I to understand that you advised me to buy stock in which you yourself did not venture to speculate?"
"Well--er--you see," he answered with composure, "as speculation was against my principles, I could not take advantage of the opportunity myself, but that seemed to me no reason why you should not try to double your income. It may have been an error of judgment on my part; I am far from infallible--far from infallible. But I think I may claim to be disinterested. I did not hope to benefit myself----"
"During my lifetime," Aunt Victoria suggested, in the same tone of quiet self-restraint. "I see. My modest fortune would not have been much in itself to a man of your means; but it would have been a considerable sum if doubled."
"Yes, doubles or quits, doubles or quits," said Uncle James, beaming on Aunt Victoria as if he were saying something reassuring. "Alas! the family failing!"
"It is a new departure, however, for the family--to gamble at other people's expense," said Aunt Victoria.
"Alas! poor human nature," Uncle James philosophised, shaking his head. "You never know--you never know."
Aunt Victoria looked him straight in the eyes, but made no further show of emotion, except that she sat more rigidly upright than usual perhaps, and the rose-tint faded from her delicate face, leaving it waxen-white beneath her auburn front.
Uncle James ate an egg, with a pious air of thankfulness for the mercies vouchsafed him.
"And where will you live now, Aunt Victoria?" he asked at last, with an affectation of as much concern as he could get into his fat voice. For many years he had insisted that Fairholm was the proper place for his mother's sister, but then she had had money to leave. "Do not desert us altogether," he pursued. "You must come and see us as often as your altered circumstances will admit."
Great-Aunt Victoria Bench bowed expressively. Aunt Grace Mary grew very red in the face. Mrs. Caldwell seemed to be controlling herself with difficulty.