Page:Last Cruise of the Spitfire.djvu/252

242

uncle's deathbed revelation was a strange one. In brief, it was as follows:

At the time my father and mother were killed he was in a sore financial strait, and needed money to keep himself from failing and losing every dollar he possessed.

He had applied to my father for relief, and my parent was about to grant him considerable assistance when the fatal catastrophe occurred.

Mr. Stillwell had immediately taken a steamer for England, and on arriving there, took entire charge of my father's affairs, though not without some difficulty with the English bankers, who held my father's funds in trust.

On examining my father's private papers, my uncle was not a little chagrined to find that Mr. Banker was to be appointed my guardian, there being a will to that effect, a will that Mr. Mason and I afterwards found among Mr. Stillwell's papers.