For Newsboys’ Home .............................. 5,000.00

Two opera performances ......................... 20,000.00

Repairs to “Flitter” ...........................  6,342.60

In tow from somewhere to Southampton ........... 50,000.00

Special train to Florida .......................  1,000.00

Cottage in Florida .............................  5,500.00

Medical attendance .............................  3,100.00

Living expenses in Florida .....................  8,900.00

Misappropriation of personal property by
servants ........................................ 3,580.00

Taxes on personal property ........................ 112.25

Sundries ........................................ 9,105.00

Household expenses ............................. 24,805.00

Total disbursements ........................ $1,160,040.00

Balance on hand ............................ $0,000,000.00

Respectfully submitted,

Montgomery Brewster.

“It’s rather broad, you see, gentlemen, but there are receipts for every dollar, barring some trifling incidentals.  He may think I dissipated the fortune, but I defy him or any one else to prove that I have not had my money’s worth.  To tell you the truth, it has seemed like a hundred million.  If any one should tell you that it is an easy matter to waste a million dollars, refer him to me.  Last fall I weighed 180 pounds, yesterday I barely moved the beam at 140; last fall there was not a wrinkle in my face, nor did I have a white hair.  You see the result of overwork, gentlemen.  It will take an age to get back to where I was physically, but I think I can do it with the vacation that begins to-morrow.  Incidentally, I’m going to be married to-morrow morning, just when I am poorer than I ever expect to be again.  I still have a few dollars to spend and I must be about it.  To-morrow I will account for what I spend this evening.  It is now covered by the ‘sundries’ item, but I’ll have the receipts to show, all right.  See you to-morrow morning.”

He was gone, eager to be with Peggy, afraid to discuss his report with the lawyers.  Grant and Ripley shook their heads and sat silent for a long time after his departure.

“We ought to hear something definite before night,” said Grant, but there was anxiety in his voice.

“I wonder,” mused Ripley, as if to himself, “how he will take it if the worst should happen.”

CHAPTER XXXII

THE NIGHT BEFORE

“It’s all up to Jones now,” kept running through Brewster’s brain as he drove off to keep his appointment with Peggy Gray.  “The million is gone—­all gone.  I’m as poor as Job’s turkey.  It’s up to Jones, but I don’t see how he can decide against me.  He insisted on making a pauper of me and he can’t have the heart to throw me down now.  But, what if he should take it into his head to be ugly!  I wonder if I could break the will—­I wonder if I could beat him out in court.”