human
How old are you, niece Charlotte?
gpt
I was twenty-five my last birthday.
human
Forgive me, my lass, you look very old for that; I should have taken you for thirty. The fact is you are poor, nothing ages like poverty. And the greater fact remains that it was full time for old Uncle Sandy to come home and prove himself of some use in the world.
gpt
We are poor, answered Charlotte;
human
No, but it puzzles me why you should be poor. When I left my little sister, she had been married about three months to that rich old Mr. Harman. He seemed devoted to her. He had surrounded her with wealth; and he assured me when I came to bid her good-bye, and she put her dear arms round my neck, that my little darling should never want for anything. He was a good old man, ages too old of course for my bright little Daisy. But it seemed better than leaving her as a governess. It was my one comfort when parting with Daisy, to feel that she could never want for anything that money could get her.
gpt
My mother has told me that during my father's life she lived as a rich woman,
human
That means she did not afterwards. Did the old gentleman die bankrupt? I don't see how he could, for he had retired from business.
gpt
No, my father died a very wealthy man.
human
Then he did not leave her well off! You don't surely mean to tell me, Charlotte Home, that that old man dared to do anything but leave a large sum of money to your pretty young mother and to you? Why, be told me with his own lips that he would make most ample provision for her.
gpt
Nevertheless, after my father's death we were poor.