“Neither; I’m very poor, very poor indeed, Mr. Sharpman.”

“Ah! that’s awkward.  We can do nothing without bondsmen.  The court wouldn’t let us touch a penny of that fund without first giving good bonds.”.

The look of disappointment and trouble had returned into the old man’s face.  “Ain’t there some way you could get bonds for me?” he asked, appealingly.

“Well, yes, I suppose I might procure bondsmen for you; I suppose I might go on your bond myself.  But you see no one cares to risk his fortune in the hands of a total stranger that way.  We don’t know you; we don’t know what you might do.”

“Oh!  I should be honest, Mr. Sharpman, perfectly honest and discreet; and you should not suffer to the value of a cent, not a single cent.”

“No doubt your intentions are good enough, my dear sir, but it requires great skill to handle so large an estate properly, and a single error in judgment on your part might cost thousands of dollars.  Good intentions and promises are well enough in their way, but they are no security against misfortune, you see.  I guess we’ll have to drop the scheme, after all.”

Sharpman arose and walked the floor in apparent perplexity, while Craft, resting his hands on his cane, and staring silently at the lawyer, tried to conceive some plan to prevent this golden opportunity from eluding his grasp.  Finally Sharpman stopped.

“Craft,” he said, “I’ll tell you what I’ll do.  If you will give me a power of attorney to hold and manage all the funds of the trust until the boy shall have attained his majority, I’ll get the necessary bonds for you.”

Craft thought a moment.  The proposition did not strike him favorably.  “That would be putting the whole thing out of my hands into yours,” he said.

“Ah! but you would still be the boy’s guardian, with right to use all the money that in your judgment should be necessary, to maintain and educate him according to his proper station in life.  For this purpose I would agree to pay you three thousand dollars on receipt of the funds, and three thousand dollars each year thereafter, besides your guardian’s commission, which would amount to eight or ten thousand dollars at least.  I would also agree to pay you a liberal sum for past services, say two or three thousand dollars.  You would have no responsibility whatever in the matter.  I would be liable for any mistakes you might make.  You could use the money as you saw fit.  What do you say?”

The scheme appeared to Simon Craft to be a very brilliant one.  He saw a great fortune in it for himself, if he could only depend on the lawyer’s promises.

“Will you give me a writing to this effect?” he asked.

“Certainly; we shall have a mutual agreement.”

“Then I’ll do it.  You’ll get the lion’s share I can see that easy enough; but if you’ll do what you say you will, I shan’t complain.  Then will I have a right to take the boy again?”