This time of trial developed all the strength and intellectual vigour of Paul's character. Under his prudent but brilliant direction the great banking-house passed successfully through the dangerous crisis. As bold, but not as venturous, as his father, he avoided all too daring speculations: he established the business upon a firm basis; and when Herr Delmar, though only half convalescent, was driven by anxiety to leave his bed for his office, he found, to his astonishment, that all peril was past. The great banking-house had emerged from the crisis with greater wealth and firmer credit than ever.
But Herr Delmar had left his bed too soon. A relapse was the consequence: recovery was impossible; although too feeble to take any part in the conduct of his affairs, he lived on confined to his couch for three years longer. At the end of this time, in the midst of a night of intense suffering, he felt that his last hour was at hand. He had Paul awakened and summoned to his bedside. He was in entire possession of his faculties; his long illness had been powerless to weaken his vigorous intellect and the conviction that he was dying never for a moment disturbed the repose of his mind.
He smiled affectionately at Paul when he entered the room, and replied to his inquiries by a cordial pressure of the hand. "I sent for you," he said, in a failing voice, "because I know I shall not live until morning. I want to thank you for the filial affection you have always shown me. To you I owe all that I possess; through you I have been enabled to establish my house; your unselfish devotion preserved my wealth for me when my previous good fortune threatened to leave me. Your care and prudence have tripled my property during these years of sickness when I have been unable to attend to business, and it is no more than just and right that you should be the only heir to the fortune you have so contributed to make. There is no one in the world with any just claim upon my estate. While I was poor my distant relatives took no notice of me, and since I have grown rich I have treated them in the same manner. You alone therefore, my dear Paul, will inherit my property, and with my lawyer's help, I have made a will to confirm you in the possession of your inheritance if any unjustifiable claims should be made upon my estate.
"I see that you do not comprehend why a will should be necessary when, as my only son, you are legally my only heir. I could explain this to you, but I beg you not to require me to do so. You have always honoured and loved me as a father should be honoured and loved by a son. I thank you for it from my very soul, and my last wish is that you should retain the same affection for my memory."
Paul would indeed have liked some explanation of his father's strange words, but he did not venture to ask for them, and a few more words of gratitude for this forbearance were the last uttered by the dying man. He soon after fell asleep with a smile upon his pale lips, and did not wake again.
The day after his father's death Paul received a visit from one of the best-known lawyers in K----, who came to read to him the will which he had drawn up a year before at Herr Delmar's desire. To Paul's disappointment it contained no explanation of his father's last words, but on the contrary surprised all who were present at the opening. In the introduction to the will Herr Delmar stated that Paul had always performed all the duties of a son with the greatest self-forgetfulness; that the maintenance and increase of his business were owing to the young man's skill and devotion; and that therefore, and not because he was his son, the testator declared him his sole heir. At the close of the will Herr Delmar expressly mentioned that he left behind him no relatives legally entitled to any portion of his estate or who could have the slightest claim upon Paul.
The singular wording of the testament caused considerable talk in legal circles in K----, and the lawyer who had drawn it up was of course applied to by many people, and indeed by Paul himself, for an explanation, but he assured every one that he knew nothing; he had strictly followed Herr Delmar's instructions in drawing up the will, the wording of which was the testator's own.
Why Herr Delmar should have taken such pains to secure his property to a son who was legally his heir remained a mystery, since no one appeared to put forward any claim to the young man's inheritance.
Thus Paul entered into undisputed possession of his father's immense wealth. There was no longer any reason for his continuing to carry on a business, in which he had never had the least interest, merely to accumulate money. To the surprise of every one on 'Change, he disposed of the entire business to a stock company at a very reasonable price, and invested his capital in safe government securities, in bonds, mortgages, and real estate. This done, he devoted all his energies to scientific research.
He lived in K---- the life of a man of wealth. He filled his magnificent villa with the finest paintings and statuary, and spent enormous sums upon his library. The greater part of his income, however, was expended in satisfying what he called his egotism,--his love of self,--which prompted him to purchase whenever he could the pleasure of assisting the poor in the quietest manner possible.