"That is very nice."
"Yes," Mr. Crane continued with satisfaction. "You can congratulate
yourself on having such good care of your property as we give it.... And
let me tell you it didn't look promising at first. There were no end of
legal snarls that had to be straightened out--in fact, if I hadn't urged
it strongly on the old man I doubt if they would have taken hold of the
thing at all!"
"Oh," Adelle responded idly, "what was the trouble?"
"Why, those other heirs--that Edward S. Clark and his children. If
_they_ had turned up we should have been in a pretty mess."
"Oh!"
"It would have upset everything."
"Why?"
He had just explained all this, but thinking that women never understood
business matters until everything had been explained several times, and
anxious to impress the girl with the benefits that she had derived from
the guardian which the law had given her, also indirectly from himself,
he patiently went all over the point again.
"Why, your great-grandfather Clark had two sons, and when he died he
left a will in which he gave both of his sons an undivided half interest
in this land. But the elder son had disappeared--they could never find
him."
"Edward," observed the girl, remembering her uncle's frequent curses at
the obstinate Edward. "Yes, I know. He went to Chicago and got lost."
"Afterward he went to St. Louis, but beyond that no trace of him or his
family can be found."
"I suppose some day he will turn up when he hears that there's some
money," Adelle remarked simply.
The banker scowled.
"Well, I hope not!... Edward isn't likely to now: he must be a young
thing of eighty-seven by this time."
"Well, his children, then."
"They would have difficulty in proving their claim. You see there's been
a judicial sale, ordered by the court, and every precaution taken....
No, there's no possibility of trouble in that quarter."
"Then they won't get their money?" Adelle remarked, thinking how
disappointed these hypothetical descendants of Edward Clark must be.
"No," agreed the trust officer with a laugh. "They're too late for
dinner."
Adelle, who did not understand the mental jump of a figure of speech,
stared at him blankly.
"It's too bad," she observed placidly at last.
"Yes, it is decidedly too bad for them," the banker repeated ironically.
"But it's life."
After this profound reflection they paddled idly for a few moments, and
then the trust officer resumed, nearer to his theme.
"So you see, Miss Clark, you're likely to be a pretty rich woman when
you come of age. The old leases on the estate are running out, and as
fast as they can the managers of the Clark's Field Associates sell at a
good price or make a long lease at a high figure and everything helps to
swell the estate, which we are investing safely for you in good stocks
and bonds that are sure to increase in value before you will want to
sell them."
"How much money is there?" Adelle demanded unexpectedly. This was her
opportunity to discover the size of her magic lamp.
"I couldn't say off hand," the banker replied cautiously. "But enough to
keep you from want, if you don't spend too much making jewelry." He
added facetiously,--"You don't feel cramped for money, do you?"
"No-o," the girl admitted dubiously. "But you can't always tell what you
may want."
"If you don't want much more than you do at present, you're safe," Mr.
Crane stated guardedly. "That is, if nothing goes wrong--a panic, and
that sort of thing."