per and I never knew what poverty meant. I loved
learning better than my brother did, and at the age of eighteen, when
Jasper went into our father's business, I was sent to Oxford. At
twenty-two I had taken my degree, and done so, not perhaps brilliantly,
but with some honor. Any profession was now open to me, and my father
gave me full permission to choose any walk in life I chose; at the same
time he made a proposal. He was no longer so young as he had been; he
had made his fortune; he believed that Jasper's aptitude for business
excelled his own. If we would become partners in the firm which he had
made, and which was already rising into considerable eminence, he would
retire altogether. We young men should work the business in our own way.
He was confident we should rise to immense wealth. While making this
proposal our father said that he would not give up his business to
Jasper alone. If both his sons accepted it, then he would be willing to
retire, taking with him a considerable sum of money, but still leaving
affairs both unencumbered and flourishing. 'You are my heirs
eventually.' he said to us both; 'and now I give you a week to decide.'
At the end of the allotted time we accepted the offer. This was
principally Jasper's doing, for at that time I knew nothing of business,
and had thought of a profession. Afterwards I liked the counting-house,
and became as absorbed as others in the all-engrossing accumulation of
wealth. Our father had taken a very large sum of money out of the
business, and it was impossible for us not to feel for a time a
considerable strain; but Jasper's skill and talent were simply
wonderful, and success attended all our efforts.

"Two years after I joined the business, I married my Charlotte's mother.
I was a wealthy man even then. Though of no birth in particular, I was
considered gentlemanly. I had acquired that outward polish which a
university education gives; I was also good-looking. With my money, good
looks, and education, I was considered a match for the proud and very
poor daughter of an old Irish baronet. She had no money; she had nothing
but her beautiful face, her high and honorable spirit, her blue blood.
You will say, 'Enough!' Ay, it was more than enough. She made me the
best, the truest of wives. I never loved another woman. She was a little
bit extravagant. She had never known wealth until she became my wife,
and wealth, in the most innocent way in the world, was delightful