It was a horrid business: over three hundred
thousand dollars were gone, and of course most of it had belonged to
widows and orphans. As soon as the facts were made known, Andrew Carstyle
announced that he would pay back what his brother had stolen. He sold his
country-place and his wife's carriage, and they moved to the little house
they live in now. Mr. Carstyle's income is probably not as large as his
wife would like to have it thought, and though I'm told he puts aside, a
good part of it every year to pay off his brother's obligations, I fancy
the debt won't be discharged for some time to come. To help things along
he opened a law office--he had studied law in his youth--but though he is
said to be clever I hear that he has very little to do. People are afraid
of him: he's too dry and quiet. Nobody believes in a man who doesn't
believe in himself, and Mr. Carstyle always seems to be winking at you
through a slit in his professional manner. People don't like it--his wife
doesn't like it. I believe she would have accepted the sacrifice of the
country-place and the carriage if he had struck an attitude and talked
about doing his duty. It was his regarding the whole thing as a matter of
course that exasperated her. What is the use of doing something difficult
in a way that makes it look perfectly easy? I feel sorry for Mrs.
Carstyle. She's lost her house and her carriage, and she hasn't been
allowed to be heroic.
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