Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work
Kenneth was left the master of Elmhurst and possessor of considerable
wealth besides, and at first he could scarcely realize his good fortune
or decide how to take advantage of it. He had one good and helpful
friend, an old lawyer named Watson, who had not only been a friend of
his uncle, and the confidant of Aunt Jane for years, but had taken an
interest in the lonely boy and had done his best to make his life
brighter and happier.
When Kenneth became a landed proprietor Mr. Watson was appointed his
guardian, and the genial old lawyer abandoned the practice of law and
henceforth devoted himself to his ward's welfare and service.
They made a trip to Europe together, where Kenneth studied the pictures
of the old masters and obtained instruction from some of the foremost
living artists of the old world.
It was while they were abroad, a year before the time of this story,
that the boy met Aunt Jane's three nieces again. They were "doing"
Europe in company with a wealthy bachelor uncle, John Merrick, a
generous, kind-hearted and simple-minded old gentleman who had taken the
girls "under his wing," as he expressed it, and had really provided for
their worldly welfare better than Aunt Jane, his sister, could have
done.
This "Uncle John" was indeed a whimsical character, as the reader will
presently perceive. Becoming a millionaire "against his will," as he
declared, he had learned to know his nieces late in life, and found in
their society so much to enjoy that he was now wholly devoted to their
interests. His one friend was Major Doyle, Patsy's father, a dignified
but agreeable old Irish gentleman who amused Uncle John nearly as much
as the girls delighted him. The Major managed John Merrick's financial
affairs, leaving the old millionaire free to do as he pleased.
So he took the girls to Europe, and the four had a fine, adventurous
trip, as may be imagined. Kenneth and Mr. Watson met them in Sicily, and
afterward in the Italian cities, and the friendship already existing
between the young people was more firmly cemented than before.
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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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