"It was not very much, Mr. Wharton."
"I dare say not. Opinions on such a matter differ, you know. At any rate, there will be no more. At present I wish Emily to live here, and you, of course, are welcome here also. If things are not going well with you, this will, at any rate, relieve you from immediate expense."
"My calculations, sir, have never descended to that."
"Mine are more minute. The necessities of my life have caused me to think of these little things. When I am dead there will be provision for Emily made by my will,—the income going to trustees for her benefit, and the capital to her children after her death. I thought it only fair to you that this should be explained."
"And you will do nothing for me?"
"Nothing;—if that is nothing. I should have thought that your present maintenance and the future support of your wife and children would have been regarded as something."
"It is nothing;—nothing!"
"Then let it be nothing. Good morning."
Two days after that Lopez recurred to the subject. "You were very explicit with me the other day, sir."
"I meant to be so."