shall be working for you. I have treated you
very badly, but I intend to make up for it. I shall not forget that
whatever money I may make will really belong to you." He looked at her
benignly, like a monarch of finance who has earmarked a million or two
for the benefit of a deserving charity. "You shall have it all, Jill."

He had so much the air of having conferred a substantial benefit upon
her that Jill felt obliged to thank him. Uncle Chris had always been
able to make people grateful for the phantom gold which he showered
upon them. He was as lavish a man with the money he was going to get
next week as ever borrowed a five-pound note to see him through till
Saturday.

"What are you going to do, Uncle Chris?" asked Jill curiously. Apart
from a nebulous idea that he intended to saunter through the city
picking dollar-bills off the sidewalk, she had no inkling of his
plans.

Uncle Chris toyed with his short moustache. He was not quite equal to
a direct answer on the spur of the moment. He had a faith in his star.
Something would turn up. Something always had turned up in the old
days, and doubtless, with the march of civilization, opportunities had
multiplied. Somewhere behind those tall buildings the Goddess of Luck
awaited him, her hands full of gifts, but precisely what those gifts
would be he was not in a position to say.

"I shall--ah--how shall I put it--?"

"Look round?" suggested Jill.

"Precisely," said Uncle Chris gratefully. "Look round. I daresay you
have noticed that I have gone out of my way during the voyage to make
myself agreeable to our fellow-travellers? I had an object.
Acquaintances begun on shipboard will often ripen into useful
friendships ashore. When I was a young man I never neglected the
opportunities which an ocean voyage affords. The offer of a book here,
a steamer-rug there, a word of encouragement to a chatty bore in the
smoke-room--these are small things, but they may lead to much. One
meets influential people on a liner. You wouldn't think it to look at
him, but that man with the eye-glasses and the thin nose I was talking
to just now is one of the richest men in Milwaukee!"

"But it's not much good having rich friends in Milwaukee when you are
in New York!"

"Exactly. There you have put your finger on the very point I have been
trying to make. It will probably be necessary for me to travel. And
for that I must be alone. I must be a mobile force. I should dearly
like to ke