_Esq._, 14, _Newland Park_, _Dulwich_, _London_, _S.E._                                                           _July_ 1, 1892.    MY DEAR NEPHEW,    Your letter of the 30th ult. received.  Have carefully considered
    matter stated, and have come to the conclusion that my duty as a
    trustee would not allow me to give full consent, as you wish.  Let me
    explain.  The testator, in making her will, intended that such
    fortune as she had at disposal should be used to supply to you her
    son such benefits as its annual product should procure.  To this end,
    and to provide against wastefulness or foolishness on your part, or,
    indeed, against any generosity, howsoever worthy, which might
    impoverish you and so defeat her benevolent intentions regarding your
    education, comfort, and future good, she did not place the estate
    directly in your hands, leaving you to do as you might feel inclined
    about it.  But, on the contrary, she entrusted the corpus of it in
    the hands of men whom she believed should be resolute enough and
    strong enough to carry out her intent, even against any cajolements
    or pressure which might be employed to the contrary.  It being her
    intention, then, that such trustees as she appointed would use for
    your benefit the interest accruing annually from the capital at
    command, _and that only_ (as specifically directed in the will), so
    that on your arriving at full age the capital entrusted to us should
    be handed over to you intact, I find a hard-and-fast duty in the
    matter of adhering exactly to the directions given.  I have no doubt
    that my co-trustees regard the matter in exactly the same light.
    Under the circumstances, therefore, we, the trustees, have not only a
    single and united duty towards you as the object of the testator's
    wishes, but towards each other as regards the manner of the carrying
    out of that duty.  I take it, therefore, that it would not be
    consonant with the spirit of the trust or of our own ideas in
    accepting it that any of us should take a course pleasant to himself
    which would or might involve a stern opposition on the part of other
    of the co-trustees.  We have each of us to do the unpleasant part of
    this duty without fear or favour.  You understand, of course, that
    the time which must elapse before you come into absolute possession
    of your estate is a limited one.  As by the terms of the will we are
    to hand over our trust when you have reached the age of twenty-one,
    there are only seven years to expire.  But till then, though I should
    gladly meet your wishes if I could, I must adhere to the duty which I

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