"L. N. Moore has four daughters, all unmarried. He is worth about twenty-five thousand dollars. That's all they will get."
"I—I hadn't ever thought about that, father."
"You've got to think about it. Here Tom Dodge's children have married millions—every one of them. Sarah married Jack Lamar; he owns the steel works. The boys connected with the Vanderventer and the O'Ryan money. There's an intelligent family."
Pelham got hot all over. He muttered something about not marrying for money.
"Who wants you to marry for money?" his father interrupted. "The Dodge crowd managed to fall in love with folks who had money. It's a big difference. I'm going to leave the girls well fixed; they ought to marry well. I want you to keep your eyes open."
The talk left a bad taste in Pelham's mouth.
Even though his mother did not care for Virginia as much as he had thought she would, his attentions continued until vacation ended, and he returned to the muggy northern city.
Nell responded to the open life almost as fully as Pelham. Hollis was busy at school, and Sue preferred staying with her mother; so the older sister frequently had her favorite mare saddled, and covered fifteen miles before she turned the horse loose in the spring lot.
Paul was on the mountain frequently, mornings and afternoons; Hillcrest Subdivision had at last been put upon the market. Most of the work fell on his shoulders; his roadster buzzed up and down the avenues, displaying the place to prospective purchasers. The lower lots sold well from the start. After six months, the investment had almost paid for itself, with less than an eighth of the land disposed of.
In the early spring, Nathaniel came to Paul with a proposition to take the land off the lists as residence property, until the iron could be mined.