d risks
of the business when he came of age might have given him some cause to
complain.

He might have complained if all this time he had been prospering in his
management of their affairs; but as it was, he said little, and allowed
Clifton to come gradually to a knowledge of how it was with them.

Up to a late date Clifton's plan had been, either to remain as a sort of
sleeping partner in the business, thus securing a certain income to
himself without trouble; or to claim a division of the property, and
take his share, leaving Jacob to carry on the business in his own name.
This was the course which his sister foresaw and feared, knowing that
such a course must bring trouble and loss to them all.

But within the last few months Clifton's idea and plans had undergone a
change. By the way in which he set himself to work, intent on mastering
the details of the business in all its branches, it became evident that
before many years were over he would stand fair to take his father's
place as the first man in that part of the country.

The more Clifton looked into the state of their affairs, the less
satisfaction he felt with regard to them. When, in the course of his
investigation, he discovered the extent of the sacrifice of real estate
which had attended the settling up of the mining operations, it is
scarcely too much to say that he was for the moment utterly appalled.
He was, upon the whole, moderate in his expression of surprise and
vexation at the state of things, and whatever he said which went beyond
moderation, his brother did not often resent, at least he rarely
answered otherwise than mildly. But Jacob's cool way of answering
questions and suggesting expedients that might serve for a time, as
though he had been freed by his brother's presence from any special
responsibility with regard to their present straits, amazed and provoked
Clifton. Of course he could not now abandon the concern without
dishonour to the name, and without the sacrifice of plans and projects
to which he had of late been giving many of his thoughts.

No, there was nothing to be done but to make the best of matters as they
stood.

"If you had come into the firm two years ago, as you should have done,"
said Jacob one day, returning, as his manner was, to matters discussed
and dismissed too often already, in his brother's opinion; "if you had
thrown yourself right into it, you might have made the Gershom
Manufacturing Company go. I h