"You mean to be a miser, then?"
"If to save money makes one a miser, then I shall be one."
Conrad left the room in an angry mood. He was one with whom prosperity didn't agree. Whatever his allowance might be, he wished to spend more. Looking upon himself as Mrs. Hamilton's heir, he could not understand the need or expediency of saving money. He was not wholly to blame for this, as his mother encouraged him in hopes which had no basis except in his own and her wishes.
Not quite three weeks after Ben had become established his new home he received a letter which mystified and excited him.
It ran thus:
"If you will come at nine o'clock this evening to No. —— West
Thirty-first Street, and call for me, you will hear something to your
advantage.
James Barnes."
"It may be something relating to my father's affairs," thought Ben. "I will go."