"That idea kept gripping me until I finally made up my mind to sell
all my big holdings in the new oil wells. This I did, and banked the
cash in New York---I won't tell you what it was, lad, but six figures
would be needed to cover it, and maybe seven, if all goes well with
my last sale.

"But somehow an old distrust of human nature began to get a hold on
me. I found myself wondering whether Matilda, if she should still
be living, would welcome her long-missing brother for himself alone,
or because he was close on a millionaire.

"That bothered me a heap, Hugh. Finally a bright idea came to me,
and I determined to fix myself up like the worst old tramp going,
and pretend to be sick, as well as out of funds. The game appealed
to my liking for new adventures, and---well, you know how it succeeded.
You boys became connected with the affair from the start, and I'm
glad of it, for I like you both.

"All through these weeks I've grimly held out, though ready to call
the game more than a few times when it seemed that poor Matilda was
having a bigger load on her shoulders than she could carry. But I
fixed up several little schemes to ease the strain, when I decided
to hold back the grand disclosure till her birthday. For one thing,
I hid a ten-dollar bill in her Bible, and she never could remember
putting the bill there, although she tried her best. Another time
I wrote a letter in a disguised hand that was signed by a fictitious
name, and which said that in a long-ago deal I had got the better
of her, which my conscience wouldn't allow; so to ease my mind I
was enclosing a twenty-dollar bill to her to cover interest.