“Had my brother cursed me when I robbed him, it would have been easier for me in after years.  But he reproached me not, except with his eyes, and the look that he gave me as we parted has haunted me ever since.  I tried to forget what I had done to him, and plunged deeply into business.  But all in vain.  I could not banish the wrong I had committed, and my brother’s face with the reproachful eyes was ever before me day and night.

“At last I could endure it no longer, and so resolved to make what amends I could.  I found out where my brother was living, wrote to him, and sent him a considerable sum of money.  He returned it, and that made me angry.  But I knew that my brother was right, and I also learned that he would starve rather than accept a penny from me or help in any form.

“For several years I made no further attempt to assist him.  But the remorse gnawing at my soul could not be silenced.  I reasoned that I had done what I could to rectify my wrong, but that gave me no peace.  Finally I resolved that I would help him in such a manner that he should never know that I had anything to do with it.  I knew that he was living in Eastern Canada, but just where I was uncertain.

“After weeks of careful consideration I made arrangements that all that I possess should go to my brother Henry after my death.  In the meantime I planned with my solicitors that a man of exceptional ability and unimpeachable character and integrity should be sent to Canada, backed with sufficient money, to find my brother and to devise some means of assisting him, and carrying out his every legitimate wish without his ever knowing that I was behind the scheme.

“I have also provided that he should be given two sealed papers, the first setting forth his instructions, which he is not to open until his arrival in Canada.  He will then learn that this second which I am now writing must not be opened until after my brother’s death, should he outlive me.  If he should die first then this paper is to be returned to me with the seal unbroken.  The man chosen for this special undertaking must not know anything about me, and he is not to have the least idea who my brother really is.  When I am dead, my solicitors will notify the man so that he may break the seal of this paper immediately after my brother’s death.

“My solicitors have full knowledge of my business affairs, and they will continue to manage them after my death.  In case of my brother Henry dying without having made a will, they have full instructions as to the disposal of my property.  Only one other living relative I have, and he is my sister’s son, Melburne Telford.  He cherishes the hope that my money will go to him after my death.  In this, however, he is mistaken, for I have taken a great dislike to the young man.  He is absolutely worthless, and travels over the country as an artist.  I have given him considerable money at various times, for my dead sister’s sake.  But he has been very ungrateful, and lives a most evil life.  He believes that my brother Henry is the only one who stands between him and my money.  But I have so arranged that he shall not receive one penny of it, though he is not aware of the fact.