“And now, Jean, if you don’t mind, I am going to ask your father some questions about business.”
Ambrose Rich chuckled. “No, Susan. Something’s happened to you.”
“Miss Kate,” cried Jean, “they’re going to fight. Let’s you and me run away. Come and wander with me in the gloaming.”
“Miss Jean,” said the educator with dignity, “I have not only wandered with youth in the gloaming, but my whole bulk has been lifted off my feet, and I was kissed in mid-air.”
“Well, I can’t do that, but I have lifted a whole man into a boat.”
When they were out of sight, Mrs. Hogg began to talk.
“I want to ask you about these shares of the Upper Peninsula Development Company. It is an old one, formed in the time of the Civil War. It made a good deal of money for my father-in-law, but I wish to know whether it is worth anything now. Here is a map that came with it long ago.”
Ambrose Rich took the map and studied it in the light that came through the window.
“I can’t answer your question, but there are both iron and copper in that region. Who holds the controlling interest?”
“Lord Fortinbras, the famous yachtsman. He is very old now, and I think his son is dead. Whether there are grandchildren I don’t know, but they say that a Fortinbras never sells anything.”