"It is very sudden."
"And that is how fortunes are made, my love. The man of business watches his chances, and then seizes them before anybody else can get ahead of him."
Mrs. Talbot was doubtful, and tried to argue. But her husband seemed so positive that he at last won her over, and got her to make out a check for the thirteen thousand dollars.
"But be careful, James," she pleaded. "Remember, I do not consider this money really mine. At my death it must go to Robert."
"I shall be careful, Sarah, my love," he said. "Do not worry."
But to himself he thought: "That boy, always that boy! It will be a long day before he sets eyes on a cent of this money!"
He could hardly control his delight, but he did his best to calm his feelings before his wife.
The next day he was off for Chicago, stating that he would not be back again for several days.
Secretly, Mrs. Talbot was much worried over what she had done.
"I hope the investment proves a good one," she thought. "I would not wish to see the money lost. It must all go to Robert when I am gone." She never considered that the Frost fortune was her own, for hers was, as we know, only a life interest.