"That isn't very likely, Walter, and me forty-seven a'ready. I'm most an old woman."
So the conversation ended. Nancy agreed, though reluctantly, to take the legacy, resolved some time or other to leave it to Walter. If she had known how little he really had left, she would not have consented to accept it at all.
The same evening Walter sat in the lawyer's comfortable sitting-room, and together they discussed the future.
"So you want to be a book agent, Walter?" said Mr. Shaw. "I can't say I think very highly of this plan."
"Why not, Mr. Shaw?"
"It will lead to nothing."
"I don't mean to spend my life at it. I am more ambitious than that. But it will give me a chance to travel without expense, and I always wanted to see something of the world."
"How old are you now?"
"Fifteen."
"You are well-grown of your age. You might readily be taken for sixteen."