Mrs. Oakley glanced at her brother's soiled linen and stained clothes, and did not express any surprise.
"I brought my valise," said her brother. "I suppose it'll be convenient for me to stay a few days."
Mrs. Oakley assented rather ungraciously,—in truth she did not care much to present such a man as her brother. She felt that it would make it still more difficult to obtain the position which she desired to maintain in the village.
"I thought maybe I could help you in settling up the estate," said Mr. Huxter.
"I don't think I shall require any assistance. Mr. Oakley was a good business man, and the task is an easy one," said his sister, coldly.
"How much does the property amount to?" asked Mr. Huxter,—the property being in his eyes the main thing to be considered.
"I can't say exactly."
"Well, you can give a guess."
But Mrs. Oakley did not care to have her brother understand her exact position as regarded money matters. She saw clearly enough that he was already speculating how to turn her prosperity to his own advantage, and this she was determined he should not do. She would like to have kept him at a distance, but she was already feeling one of the inconveniences of wealth. There are some whose chief enjoyment of wealth arises from the happiness which it enables them to impart to others, and some, in Mrs. Oakley's position, would have been glad to do something for such of their relatives as were in struggling circumstances; but it was not so with her. She was of a stingy, penurious disposition, and did not mean that her money should benefit any one but Benjamin and herself, except the small sum which she felt obliged to spend on John.
"No, I don't think I could form any estimate," she said. "Mr. Oakley has recently died, you know."