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Hardie? He has declined our alliance because he takes for granted we are
poor. When I undeceive him on that head he will reopen _negotiations_ in
a letter--No. 2 of the correspondence; copied by one of his clerks--it
will be calm, plausible, flattering: in short, it will be done like a
gentleman: though he is nothing of the kind. And this brings me to what I
ought to have begun with: your dear father and I have always lived with
our income for our children's sake; he is bringing home the bulk of our
savings this very voyage, and it amounts to fourteen thousand pounds."
"Oh, what an enormous sum!"
"No, dearest, it is not a fortune in itself. But it is a considerable sum
to possess, independent of one's settlement and one's income. It is loose
cash, to speak _a la_ Hardie; that means I can do what I choose with it
and of course I choose--to make you happy. How I shall work on what you
call Iron and I venture to call Clay must be guided by circumstances. I
think of depositing three or four thousand pounds every month with Mr.
Hardie; he is our banker, you know.


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