"You are not tied to facts. Tell what you like. What would you most like?"
"Most like?" repeated Esther. "Let me see. It's very hard to begin with me, when I don't know the game. Let us see. I think I should like to have the most beautiful diamonds in New York."
"Very good," said Norton. "Now tell what you would do with them."
"Do with them? Why, wear them, of course."
"Of course," said Norton. "But the diamonds are your capital, you understand; what interest will you get for your capital? What good will they do you, Esther? that's it."
"What good?" said Esther. "Why, if I had the finest jewels of anybody, don't you see I should outshine everybody?"
"I don't see it," said Norton; "but then I'm not in that line. It's your business we are talking of. Put it down properly, Recorder. Now Bob Francis—what's your idea of a jolly life, eh?"
"I don't know!" said Bob. He was a year older than his sister; not a year brighter.
"O yes, you do. Fancy—but I don't believe you can fancy. What would you like best, Bob?—come!"
"I'd like as well as anything to be a cavalry officer, and have nothing to do but ride."