"About forty thousand, I believe."
"So much! I thought it was twenty or thirty thousand."
"It was to be as much as forty by this time, certainly,—by the time you are of age."
"I believe I heard—part was to accumulate at compound interest. But padre was to use some of the interest."
"Yes; through your minority. That was the arrangement made by your father."
"Then my coming of age will be a loss to him. Is that why he dislikes any mention of it?"
"I hope not!"
"Why? People don't like losing part of the income they are accustomed to. But of course I shall let him have any amount still that he wants, only keeping enough for my own clothes. What do I want with more?"
"When you set up a separate establishment—"
"Nonsense. As if—"