"_Mem._--Copy (sealed) left in custody of E. B. Trent, to be opened if
necessary, as directed." _June_ 11, 1906. My Dear Nephew,

    When (if ever) you receive this you will know that (with the
    exception of some definite bequests) I have left to you, under
    certain conditions, the entire bulk of my fortune--a fortune so great
    that by its aid as a help, a man of courage and ability may carve out
    for himself a name and place in history. The specific conditions
    contained in Clause 10 of my Will have to be observed, for such I
    deem to be of service to your own fortune; but herein I give my
    advice, which you are at liberty to follow or not as you will, and my
    wishes, which I shall try to explain fully and clearly, so that you
    may be in possession of my views in case you should desire to carry
    them out, or, at least, to so endeavour that the results I hope for
    may be ultimately achieved. First let me explain--for your
    understanding and your guidance--that the power, or perhaps it had
    better be called the pressure, behind the accumulation of my fortune
    has been ambition. In obedience to its compulsion, I toiled early
    and late until I had so arranged matters that, subject to broad
    supervision, my ideas could be carried out by men whom I had selected
    and tested, and not found wanting. This was for years to the
    satisfaction, and ultimately to the accumulation by these men of
    fortune commensurate in some measure to their own worth and their
    importance to my designs. Thus I had accumulated, whilst still a
    young man, a considerable fortune. This I have for over forty years
    used sparingly as regards my personal needs, daringly with regard to
    speculative investments. With the latter I took such very great
    care, studying the conditions surrounding them so thoroughly, that
    even now my schedule of bad debts or unsuccessful investments is
    almost a blank. Perhaps by such means things flourished with me, and
    wealth piled in so fast that at times I could hardly use it to
    advantage. This was all done as the forerunner of ambition, but I
    was over fifty years of age when the horizon of ambition itself
    opened up to me. I speak thus freely, my dear Rupert, as when you
    read it I shall have passed away, and not ambition nor the fear of
    misunderstanding, nor even of scorn can touch me. My ventures in
    commerce and finance covered not only the Far East, but every foot of
    the way to it, so that the Mediterranean and all its opening seas
    were familiar to me. In my journeyings up and down the Adriatic I
    was always struck by the great beauty and seeming richness--native
    richness--of the Land of the Blue Mountains. At last Chance took me
    into that delectable region. When the "Balkan Struggle" of '90 was
    on, one of the great Voivodes came to me in secret to arrange a large
    loan for national purposes. It was known in financial circles of
    both Europe and Asia that I took an active part in the _haute
    politique_ of national treasuries, and the Voivode Vissarion came to
    me as to one able and willing to carry out his wishes. After
    confidential pour-parlers, he explained to me that his nation was in
    the throes of a great crisis. As you perhaps know, the gallant
    little Nation in the Land of the Blue Mountains has had a strange
    history. For more than a thousand years--ever since its settlement
    after the disaster of Rossoro--it had maintained its national
    independence under several forms of Government. At first it had a
    King whose successors became so despotic that they were dethroned. Then it was governed by its Voivodes, with the combining influence of
    a Vladika somewhat similar in power and function to the
    Prince-Bishops of Montenegro; afterwards by a Prince; or, as at
    present, by an irregular elective Council, influenced in a modified
    form by the Vladika, who was then supposed to exercise a purely
    spiritual function. Such a Council in a small, poor nation did not
    have sufficient funds for armaments, which were not immediately and
    imperatively necessary; and therefore the Voivode Vissarion, who had
    vast estates in his own possession, and who was the present
    representative a family which of old had been leaders in the land,
    found it a duty to do on his own account that which the State could
    not do. For security as to the loan which he wished to get, and
    which was indeed a vast one, he offered to sell me his whole estate
    if I would secure to him a right to repurchase it within a given time
    (a time which I may say has some time ago expired). He made it a
    condition that the sale and agreement should remain a strict secret
    between us, as a widespread knowledge that his estate had changed
    hands would in all probability result in my death and his own at the
    hands of the mountaineers, who are beyond everything loyal, and were
    jealous to the last degree. An attack by Turkey was feared, and new
    armaments were required; and the patriotic Voivode was sacrificing
    his own great fortune for the public good. What a sacrifice this was
    he well knew, for in all discussions regarding a possible change in
    the Constitution of the Blue Mountains it was always taken for
    granted that if the principles of the Constitution should change to a
    more personal rule, his own family should be regarded as the Most
    Noble. It had ever been on the side of freedom in olden time; before
    the establishment of the Council, or even during the rule of the
    Voivodes, the Vissarion had every now and again stood out against the
    King or challenged the Princedom. The very name stood for freedom,
    for nationality, against foreign oppression; and the bold
    mountaineers were devoted to it, as in other free countries men
    follow the flag. Such loyalty was a power and a help in the land, for it knew danger
    in every form; and anything which aided the cohesion of its integers
    was a natural asset. On every side other powers, great and small,
    pressed the land, anxious to acquire its suzerainty by any
    means--fraud or force. Greece, Turkey, Austria, Russia, Italy,
    France, had all tried in vain. Russia, often hurled back, was
    waiting an opportunity to attack. Austria and Greece, although
    united by no common purpose or design, were ready to throw in their
    forces with whomsoever might seem most likely to be victor. Other
    Balkan States, too, were not lacking in desire to add the little
    territory of the Blue Mountains to their more ample possessions. Albania, Dalmatia, Herzegovina, Servia, Bulgaria, looked with lustful
    eyes on the land, which was in itself a vast natural fortress, having
    close under its shelter perhaps the finest harbour between Gibraltar
    and the Dardanelles.