THE BURIED TREASURE, 241

to speak. Have you endeavoured to reform him?
Would you not have done better to try to make a
respectable man of him than to abet him in his bad
courses ?””

Cal. “ How have I abetted him? What have I
done?”

Meg. “ Behaved like a rascal, to speak plainly.”

Cal. “That's not my way.”

Meg. “Did you not buy this house from the
young man? Why don’t you answer? I mean this
very house in which you are living.”

Cal. “T did buy it. I paid the money to the
young man, two hundred pounds down.”

Meg. “You paid the money?”

Cal. “Certainly. I see nothing to be ashamed of
in that.”

Meg. “Well, then, I say that you betrayed your
trust. You gave the young fellow a sword to kill
himself with when you supplied him with the means
of crowning the edifice of his folly.”

Cal. “Oughtn’t I to have paid him the money?”

Meg. “You ought not to have had any buying
and selling with him. See how the thing stands.
The young man is put in your charge, and you get
possession of his house. On my word, you are a
fine trustee!”

Cal. “My friend, when you talk to me in this
fashion, I have no choice but to tell you a secret
that I was charged to keep strictly to myself. Can
I trust you?”

16