“What with planting, draining, bridging, reclaiming waste lands, and other improvements, the wages of last year alone exceeded seven thousand!”
“By Jove! it 's nigh incredible,” said the lawyer, energetically. “My dear Martin, can't you perceive that all this is sheer waste,—so much good money actually thrown into Lough Corrib? Tell me, frankly, how long have you been pursuing this system of improvement?”
“About three years; under Mary's management.”
“And the results,—what of them?”
“It is too early to speak of that; there's Kyle's Wood, for instance,—we have enclosed that at considerable cost. Of course we can't expect that the mere thinnings can repay us, the first year or two.”
“And your reclaimed land,—how has it prospered?”
“Not over well. They pushed draining so far that they 've left a large tract perfectly barren and unproductive.”
“And the harbor,—the pier I saw yesterday?”
“That 's a bad business,—it's filling up the bay with sand! but we'll alter it in summer.”
“And now for the people themselves,—are they better off, better fed, clothed, housed, and looked after, than before?”