on, an' take a
mansion in the West End, call at Long Acre in passing, and buy a
carriage and four. Then I'll run down to Folkestone an' buy a villa
there, or a castle if they have one in stock; if not, I'll order one o'
the newest pattern, with gas, water, electricity, and steam laid on.
After that I'll buy a steam-yacht and take a trip round the world, so as
to calm my brain and think over it. Of course I'll drop in at Hong
Kong, in passing, to have a look at my property; and then--"

"Hush, brother! don't run on with such nonsense when we ought to be only
filled with serious thoughts."

"How can a man be filled with serious thoughts, Molly, when a sort of
Arabian Nights' affair has tumbled on him all of a sudden--took him
aback like a white squall, and thrown him on his beam-ends?"

"And what a selfish fellow you are, too!" said Jeff; "not one word in
all you propose to do about anybody except yourself--no mention even of
Rosebud."

"Pooh! Jeff, are you so green as not to know that a wise man never puts
his best foot foremost? Don't you know that it is usual, when a man
makes a speech, to keep tumblin' out one point after another--clinkin'
'em all as he goes along--until he comes to the `last but not _least_'
point? If you had let me alone, Molly, I was comin' to Rosebud and
yourself too; but as you've been so unmannerly, I'll keep these points
till another time. By the way, when you write to Rosebud, not a word
about all this. It might unsettle the darlin' with her lessons. An'
that reminds me that one o' my first businesses will be to have her
supplied wi' the best of teachers--French, Italian, Spanish, German
masters--Greek an' Hebrew an' Dutch ones too if the dear child wants
'em--to say nothin' o' dancin' an' drawin' an' calisthenics an'
mathematics, an' the use o' the globes, an' conundrums o' that sort."

"Really, brother, if you go on like this, I'll begin to think your good
fortune, as you call it, has turned your brain."

"Never fear, Molly, when I come to say what I'm going to do about the
little church, an' the night-classes, an' the soup-kitchens, and the
model-houses and the swimming-bath, you'll whistle another tune. But
come, Jeff; it's time to ask how you are gettin' along. You look
better, my boy."

"I _am_ better, captain--much, _much_ better," returned the youth, with
a flushed cheek and sparkling eye, "for I, too, have got news this
morning of a fortune which exceeds yours in val