Mrs. Ives concurred in that opinion. After dinner Mr. Bradley had invited her to leave the others and accompany him into his library where they might have a talk.
“Mr. Dean has asked me to inform you more or less as to his affairs,” he said as he closed the door. “He feels it would be embarrassing for him to discuss them at the very start, and yet they must be discussed. As I’m his man of business, I can put them before you. He is quite comfortably off. He wants you to rent a good large house in an attractive neighborhood in Cambridge, a house in which he will have a comfortable study, bedroom, and bath. He would like to have you take charge of all expenses and disbursements for the house. And he wishes me to pay to you monthly one thousand dollars for house and family expenses—including David’s expenses at college and Ralph’s at school.”
“But it’s too much!” cried Mrs. Ives, quite aghast at the idea of having to dispose of an allowance of such magnitude. “Why, I thought he meant just to be a boarder! And to pay twelve thousand a year for board and lodging! I never heard of such a thing!”
“His mind is made up, and you must let him have his way. He has the money to spend, and he is convinced that he can’t use it to any better purpose.”
“But I can’t feel that it’s right! I don’t feel that I can accept such an arrangement.”
Mr. Bradley set about overcoming the expected resistance. He dwelt upon the disappointment and distress that would fall upon Mr. Dean if the plan, which it had given him great pleasure to devise, were rejected; he assured Mrs. Ives that Mr. Dean’s heart was wrapped up in David, and that he was already anticipating the development of a similar affection for Ralph; he pointed out that Mr. Dean had no relatives to feel aggrieved at such a bestowal of his affections. Furthermore, after the necessary expenses for the education of the two boys were deducted, the allowance that was contemplated would not be more than sufficient to surround Mr. Dean with the comforts that he desired. Mr. Bradley urged Mrs. Ives to think how little there was in life for the blind man and how cruel it would be to deny him his happiness; he drew such an affecting picture of Mr. Dean’s forlornness in the event of her rejecting his proposal that the soft woman could not in the end be anything but submissive.
“If you think it’s right that I should accept it, Mr. Bradley—if you feel that it would really disappoint Mr. Dean—” She spoke with a quiver of the voice.
“Of course I think it’s right; I shouldn’t be trying so hard to persuade you if I didn’t,” said Mr. Bradley. “Now let’s go in and relieve the poor man’s suspense. I’m afraid the length of our interview is making him uneasy.”
Mr. Dean would not listen to Mrs. Ives when she tried to make a little speech of appreciation. “All settled, is it?” he said. “That’s good—no, no, my dear lady, you don’t know what you’re in for; I assure you, you don’t; so there’s no use in your trying to say anything—absolutely not anything. And to-morrow perhaps you’ll go with Mrs. Bradley and try to find a house. Mrs. Bradley knows pretty well the kind of house I have in mind, and if you and she can agree on one, I shall be satisfied.”
Walking back across the Common to the hotel, Mrs. Ives breathed aloud her blessings. Pious longing followed them. “If only your father could know! Perhaps he does. What was to become of us—that troubled him so in those last days! Oh, boys, you won’t forget him—you won’t lose sight of what he was and what he hoped for you! In this new place, where there will be nothing to remind you of him, you must keep him in your thoughts. You will, David; you will too, Ralph!”