"How came your uncle to do so without learning about him first?"
"Oh, I don't know! he was in a hurry to do anything that would take the trouble of the farm off his hands; he don't like it."
"On what terms has he let him have it?"
"On shares and I know, I know under that Didenhover it will bring us in nothing, and it has brought us in nothing all the time we have been here; and I don't know what we are going to live upon "
"Has your uncle nor your aunt no property at all left?"
"Not a bit except some waste lands in Michigan? I believe, that were left to aunt Lucy a year or two ago; but they are as good as nothing."
"Has he let Didenhover have the saw-mill too?"
"I don't know he didn't say if he has, there will be nothing at all left for us to live upon. I expect nothing from Didenhover, his face is enough. I should have thought it might have been for uncle Rolf. Oh, if it wasn't for aunt Lucy and Hugh, I shouldn't care!"
"What has your uncle been doing all this year past?"
"I don't know, aunt Miriam he can't bear the business, and he has left the most of it to Lucas, and I think Lucas is more of a talker than a doer. Almost nothing has gone right. The crops have been ill-managed I do not know a great deal about it, but I know enough for that; and uncle Rolf did not know anything about it but what he got from books. And the sheep are dying off Barby says it is because they were in such poor condition at the beginning of winter, and I dare say she is right."