Aunt Jane's Nieces
"Sir," said he, "give an account of yourself."
"Eh?"
"John Merrick, millionaire and impostor, who came into my family under
false pretenses and won our love and friendship when we didn't know
it, give an account of yourself!"
Patsy laughed.
"What are you up to, Daddy?" she demanded. "What has Uncle John been
doing?"
"Deceiving us, my dear."
"Nonsense," said Uncle John, lighting his old briar pipe, "you've been
deceiving yourselves."
"Didn't you convey the impression that you were poor?" demanded the
Major, sternly.
"No."
"Didn't you let Patsy take away your thirty-two dollars and forty-two
cents, thinking it was all you had?"
"Yes."
"Aren't you worth millions and millions of dollars--so many that you
can't count them yourself?"
"Perhaps."
"Then, sir," concluded the Major, mopping the perspiration from his
forehead and sitting down limply in his chair, "what do you mean by
it?"
Patsy stood pale and trembling, her round eyes fixed upon her uncle's
composed face.
"Uncle John!" she faltered.
"Yes, my dear."
"Is it all true? Are you so very rich?"
"Yes, my dear."
"And it's you that gave me this house, and--and everything else--and
got the Major his fine job, and me discharged, and--and--"
"Of course, Patsy. Why not?"
"Oh, Uncle John!"
She threw herself into his arms, sobbing happily as he clasped her
little form to his bosom. And the Major coughed and blew his nose, and
muttered unintelligible words into his handkerchief. Then Patsy sprang
up and rushed upon her father, crying;
"Oh, Daddy! Aren't you glad it's Uncle John?"
"I have still to hear his explanation," said the Major.
Uncle John beamed upon them. Perhaps he had never been so happy before
in all his life.
"I'm willing to explain," he said, lighting his pipe again and
settling himself in his chair. "But my story is a simple one, dear
friends, and not nearly so wonderful as you may imagine. My father had
a big family that kept him poor, and I was a tinsmith with little work
to be had in the village where we lived.
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In a village there lived two men who had the self-same name. Both were named Claus. But one of them owned four horses, and the other owned only one horse; so to distinguish between them people called the man who had four horses Big Claus, and the man who had only one horse Little Claus. Now I'll tell you what happened to these two, for this is a true story.
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