human
Well, about this little business affair of ours, Dollykins--Of course the property was never large, though properly invested it might have brought us in a decent income instead of the trifle Mary was content with. The merest pittance I assure you, the merest pittance!
gpt
Often during my wife's lifetime I took occasion to point this out to her. The question of securities and investments being one to which I have devoted the greater part of my business career, I think I may say without undue vanity that I am qualified to give advice on such matters! But Mary had a certain sentimental reluctance about changing investments which her father had made for her, and sentiment is a thing which I am always able to respect.
human
Good for mother!
gpt
However, after her death-- he paused to pay his Mary the tribute of a sincere though dramatic sigh--
human
I began at once to look about for a means of providing my little girl with more affluence than had hitherto been at my disposal. The best, he smiled, patting her hand,
gpt
He expanded suddenly with public spirit.
human
What a State! Fortunes have been made here, but nothing compared with the fortunes which shall be made. People have dared to call us a 'pauper State'--'pauper,' if you please!--with wealth at our command, untouched, unguessed resources lying just beneath the surface of this beautiful soil, which would make Aladdin's cave look like--like--
gpt
Thirty cents, supplied Joan, in an anxious effort to get to the point.
human
I know, Father!--but what did you buy with the money?
gpt
Oil-fields! he said largely.
human
Oil-fields! Or, to be exact, stock in a company formed for the purpose of purchasing oil-fields, in which by good chance I happened to be let in on the ground floor (as we say in commercial parlance, Dollykins. It is not an expression I should care to hear you use.) You are the part possessor of something like one thousand acres of virgin Kentucky soil!
gpt
Am I? said Joan dubiously.
human
It sounds promising.
gpt
Promising, yes!--but so far only promising. Oil has been struck all about us, but none as yet on our holdings. I have by no means given up hope, of course. (Richard Darcy had never given up hope in any of his lost causes.)
human
But I must confess that I have been disappointed. Worse than disappointed. For a while I was--well, really, desperate!
gpt
Father! You mean you have _lost_ the money?--There's no income left?
human
Income? Alas, no. And even the principal--Still, the land is there, one thousand acres of it, and that cannot escape! he added, brightening.
gpt
There were times when I thought of going to live on the land. Though my experience of agriculture has been practically nil, many of our ancestors were planters and stock-breeders, and, as you know, I am a firm believer in the power of heredity. However, I was credibly informed that the property would not lend itself to agriculture. I was at my wit's end. Fancy the position! (The Major was beginning rather to enjoy his woe in the retrospect.)
human
Here was I not as yet firmly established on my feet (as we say in business parlance); deprived alike of helpmate and companion, with my child at an expensive boarding-school where I had promised my dead wife she should remain until the completion of her education--and I without a dollar I could call my own! Frightful! There were certain obligations to tradespeople as well.... I am sure I do not know how for a while Ellen Neal managed to provide us with necessities! (Joan thought grimly that she knew how.)
gpt
It became necessary to--ah!--realize on my possessions. First the silver went--I daresay you have wondered what has become of our family silver, my child? It was sacrificed to keep a roof over your head. Then the more valuable pieces of furniture--
human
Oh, don't! groaned the girl in a sort of angry pity,
gpt
Why didn't you tell me? Oh, _poor_ father!
human
You may well say, 'poor father.' It was for you I suffered most, for you I was afraid. A man alone can always manage to subsist in some fashion, but a man with a helpless female dependent on him--! Thank heaven, he said earnestly,
gpt
You mean, said Joan slowly,
human
Why else? She is an excellent woman, a kind and excellent and devoted woman. But under happier circumstances, a man of my position, my traditions, my--shall I say fastidiousness?--
gpt
I think, said Joan quietly,
human
No!