"Oh, yes, I know--Case number twenty-three thousand seven hundred and
forty-one! And that's all right, of course. Relief of some sort is
absolutely necessary. But I'd like to see a little warm sympathy
injected into it, some way. Give the machine a heart, say, as well as
hands and a head."

"Then why don't you try it yourself?"

"Not I!" His gesture of dissent was emphatic. "I have tried it, in a
way, and failed. That's why I'd like some one else to tackle the job.
And that brings me right back to my original question. I'm wondering
what my money will do, when I'm done with it. I'd like to have one of
my own kin have it--if I was sure of him. Money is a queer
proposition, Ned, and it's capable of--'most anything."

"It is. You're right."

"What I can do with it, and what some one else can do with it, are two
quite different matters. I don't consider my efforts to circulate it
wisely, or even harmlessly, exactly what you'd call a howling success.
Whatever I've done, I've always been criticized for not doing
something else. If I gave a costly entertainment, I was accused of
showy ostentation. If I didn't give it, I was accused of not putting
money into honest circulation. If I donated to a church, it was called
conscience money; and if I didn't donate to it, they said I was mean
and miserly. So much for what I've done. I was just wondering--what
the other fellow'd do with it."

"Why worry? 'T won't be your fault."