I know
no reading so interesting and so instructive as the reading of one's
Banker's Book. To watch the outgoings on one side," said Sir Joseph,
with a gentle and pathetic solemnity, "and the incomings on the
other--the sad lessening of the balance at one time, and the cheering
and delightful growth of it at another--what absorbing reading! The best
novel that ever was written isn't to be mentioned in a breath with it.
I can not, Richard, I really can _not_, see my nice round balance shrink
up to half the figure that I have been used to for a lifetime. It may
be weak of me," proceeded Sir Joseph, evidently feeling that it was not
weak of him at all, "but we all have our tender place, and my Banker's
Book is mine. Besides, it isn't as if you wanted it. If you wanted it,
of course--but you don't want it. You are a rich man; you are
marrying my dear Natalie for love, not for money. You and she and my
grandchildren will have it all at my death. It _can_ make no difference
to you to wait a few years till the old man's chair at the fireside
is empty.
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