"Your husband has your fortune yet."
"I care not for that. Oliver is more to me than money."
"Thank you, mother," said Oliver; "but we must be practical, too. I have learned that money is a good thing to have. Mr. Kenyon has been led to wrong us, and make us unhappy, by his greed for money. We will punish him by depriving him of it."
"I quite agree with you, Oliver," said Mr. Graham, who was present. "Your step-father should be punished in the way he will feel it the most."
"What course would you advise me to pursue, Mr. Graham?" asked Oliver.
"I am not prepared with an immediate answer. We will speak of it to-morrow."
Learning how much kindness Oliver had received from Nicholas Bundy, Mrs. Conrad invited him to bring his friend with him in the evening, and the invitation was cordially seconded by Mr. Graham.
Nicholas was overjoyed to hear of the good fortune of Oliver, but hesitated at first to accept the invitation.
"I'm a rough backwoodsman, Oliver," he said. "In my early life I was not so much a stranger to society, but now I shan't know how to behave."
"You underrate yourself, Mr. Bundy," said Oliver. "I can promise you won't feel awkward in my mother's society, and Mrs. Graham is very much like her."