"Don't be any longer than you can help, Dick."
Dick could hear the voices of his father and uncle in the big, handsome library, where our hero had spent many pleasant hours with his favorite books. Mr. Larabee was speaking.
"I tell you what it is, Mortimer," he remarked to his brother-in-law. "It's all a sinful waste of money, and the sooner you find it out the better. Why it's the most crazy idea of any that my sister ever got into her head! Don't let Dick do it!"
"They're talking about me," thought the young millionaire, and he hardly knew whether to go in, or wait for another time. But, before he could move away from the door, he heard his father's voice.
"Well, Ezra, I don't agree with you, but that's not strange, since I seldom do."
"It would be a lot better if you did," snarled Uncle Ezra.
"There are two opinions about that. At any rate, I shall carry out the wishes of my wife. She wished Dick to be brought up in a certain way, and I shall do my best to fulfil her plans. She would have done it herself had she lived. So Dick shall make the experiment. I know it will do him good. He needs change after a hard winter in school."
"But, Mortimer, think of the cost! It's going to be awful!" and there was agony in the crabbed old man's voice.
"Oh, it won't cost such a pile, Ezra. Besides, Dick can afford it, and if he can't I can. The money couldn't be put to better use."
"Yes it could, Mortimer. There's where you're mistaken. It could be invested in tenement houses, and made to pay big interest. You could——"