Page:Pratt portraits - sketched in a New England suburb (IA prattportraitssk00full).pdf/137

 time for reflection or discussion. 'T'he final winding up of his affairs had to be in a great measure entrusted to his brother Ben, and it was at this time that Ben first learned that William had not taken advantage of the rise in cotton for his own enrichment. Ben was an honest man, but this was beyond him.

"Quixotic," he growled. "Perfectly quixotic! Bill," he cried in desperation, "you need a guardian."

"Do I?" said William.

They were standing over the safe in his office, and as William looked down upon his brother a faint gleam of amusement came into his grave eyes. He was taller by half a head than Ben, and though the difference in their age was not great, he looked much the elder. With his stern, rugged countenance and strong frame, he presented a marked contrast to his blue-eyed, good-humored junior, whose short figure was getting stout but would never be powerful.

"Do I?" he asked again.

"Yes, Bill! you do! First you throw away your luck and then you do your best to throw away your life. I'm blessed if I can see what right you have to cut into us all in this way, especially for a cause you never stood up for before."

"Queer that I can't make you understand," said William, with a contraction of the brows, as though he were trying to think out some elabo-