l this undertaking: "Our great adventure." Mother says it
sounds Henry Jamesy and I take her word for it (so far I have not
read that novelist), but he must be very interesting, as Mother and
Professor Green used to discuss him for hours at a time.

Our going is not quite so happy as we meant it to be. Kent can't
come with us as we had planned, but will have to stay in Louisville
for some months, and may not be able to leave at all this winter.
There is some complication of our affairs, that makes it best for
him to be on hand until the matter is settled. I remember how
interested you were in the fact that oil was found on my mother's
land and that she expected to realize an independent income from
the sale of the land, also pay off the mortgage on Chatsworth, our
beloved home. Don't be too uneasy, the oil is there all right
enough and we shall finally get the money, but the arrangement was:
so much down and the rest when the wells should begin operation.

The first payment Mother used immediately to pay the mortgage, but
the second payment has not been made yet, as Mother's sister, Aunt
Clay, living on the adjoining place, has got out an injunction
against the Oil Trust as a public nuisance, and all work in the oil
land has had to be stopped for the time being. The lawyer for the
Trust told my brother, Paul, that Aunt Clay has not a leg to stand
on, but of course the law has to take its leisurely course, and in
the meantime the money for Mother is not forthcoming until the
wells are in operation. Aunt Clay is in her element, making
everyone as uncomfortable as possible and engaged in a foolish
lawsuit. She is always going to law about something and always
losing. We are devoutly thankful that her suit is with the Trust
and not our Mother, as we know that Mother is so constituted she
could not stand up against a member of her family in a lawsuit. I
truly believe she would let Aunt Clay take the oil lands and all
the rest of Chatsworth, rather than have a row over it.

This property, where the oil was found, was given to Mother by Aunt
Clay when she settled up Grandfather Carmichael's estate. Of course
she considered the property of no value or she would never have let
it out of her clutches, and as executrix and administratrix of the
estate she ha