He had a good position on a daily paper and his mother's little property had been disposed of to advantage, so that he had several thousand in bank now. To him, with his small needs and quiet tastes, this seemed like wealth.
“Oh, why will you force me to such brutal plainness!” exclaimed Mrs. Lamont impatiently. “Really this interview will make me ill.”
“It may indeed,” said Steve.
He had no thought of sarcasm.
“Mr. Loveland, this is a business matter. We must understand each other. You have property, I suppose?”
“Not now; it was sold.”
“What do you own, may I ask? Oh, isn't it fearful to have to talk so! But I must lead you to see things clearly.”
“I have forty-five hundred dollars in bank and a good situation,” said Steve, with a feeling that he was turning his life inside out under a stranger's gaze, and had returned to barbarism and was buying Nannie.
“Bringing you what, may I ask?”
“A hundred and twenty-five a month.”