Eleanor laughed heartily. "Mercy no! I never thought of that. I meant a mortgage, you know."
"I don't know what a mortgage is. But father never had to clear the place much as it was always rich free soil without brush."
Eleanor glanced quizzically at Polly. "Humph! My father knows what a mortgage is, poor man! Mother made him do it to get her a French car this spring. If your father was my father and owned all this vast place free and clear, my mother would mortgage it in a jiffy if she married him!"
"Well, she didn't!" came decidedly from Polly, with a grateful sigh of relief.
Eleanor laughed in appreciation. "Say, Polly, my father would like you down to the ground!"
Polly made no reply and Eleanor looked about her again. "Polly, how does it feel to own such wonderful things as you just showed us? And such a great farm as you have?"
"I never thought of it. In fact, I don't believe any of us remember who owns them. Everybody is welcome to help themselves to these cliffs and the jewels at Rainbow Cliffs."
"How much do you s'pose your father is worth?" now asked Eleanor, showing a trace of Mrs. Maynard's teachings.
"I never asked him. We never thought of his being worth more than we might need."
"Oh, but you never can need all those cattle, and the vast farm, or the wheat and other products he ships and they bring in money," persisted the daughter of a banker.