But, too, he has always declared that you had been, as he expressed it,
'brought up wrong.' Your money had, in a way, warped your estimate of
people and things. He believed that, if you were given the opportunity,
you would learn that wealth does not, of itself, mean happiness. So
he decided not to tell you, not to give you back your share of your
father's money--he refuses to consider it his--until another year, until
you were of age, at least. And there was Steve. You know, Caroline, that
money and what it brought was spoiling Steve. He has never been so much
a man as during the past year, when he thought himself poor. But your
uncle has planned for him as well as for you and, when he believes the
time has come, he--"
"Please," she interrupted, falteringly; "please don't say any more. Let
me think. Oh, please let me think, Mr. Sylvester... You say that Uncle
Elisha intends giving us all that father took from him? All of it?"
"Yes, all. He considers himself merely your guardian still and will
accept only his expenses from the estate."
"But--but it is wonderful!"
"Yes, it is. But I have learned to think him a wonderful man."
She shook her head.
"It is wonderful!" she repeated, brokenly. "Even though we cannot take
it, it is wonderful.
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