“But what is it you would do, Beauclerc?” said the general.
“What you must wish to be done,” said Beauclerc. “Repair this ruin, restore this once hospitable mansion, and put it in the power of the son to be what his ancestors have been.”
“But how—my dear Beauclerc? Tell me plainly—how?”
“Plainly, I would lend him money enough to make this house fit to live in.”
“And he would never repay you, and would never live in it.”
“He would, sir—he promised me he would.”
“Promised you!”
“And I promised him that I would lend him the money.”
“Promised! Beauclerc? Without your guardian’s knowledge? Pray, how much—”
“Confound me, if I remember the words. The sense was, what would do the business; what would make the house fit for him and his sisters to live in.”