Would they be ears of wheat
Sown once for food, but trodden into clay?
Or golden coins squandered and still to pay?"
"The only way to look bravely and prosperously forward is never to
look back."
Antony arrived at Hallam about an hour after the squire's death. He
was not a man of quick affections, but he loved his father. He was
grieved at his loss, and he was very anxious as to the disposition
of the estate. It is true that he had sold his birthright, but yet
he half expected that both his father and sister would at the last
be opposed to his dispossession. The most practical of men on every
other subject, he yet associated with his claim upon Hallam all kinds
of romantic generosities. He felt almost sure that, when the will came
to be read, he would find Hallam left to him, under conditions which
he could either fulfill or set aside. It seemed, after all, a
preposterous thing to leave a woman in control of such a property when
there were already two male heirs. And Hallam had lately grown steadily
upon his desires. He had not found money-making either the pleasant or
easy process he had imagined it would be; in fact, he had had more than
one great disappointment to contend against.
As the squire had foreseen, his marriage with Lady Evelyn had not
turned out well for him in a financial way.
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