sense of humour. With her companions at school her spirits at times were high, but Anthony himself had seldom seen her so light-hearted, apparently—so like what a girl of her years should be—as she was during this visit.
I dwell on the fact, because the impression left on his mind materially affected the whole conduct of subsequent events. It was just after this that he resolved to turn the flourishing business, of which up till now be had been the sole proprietor, into a joint-stock company, and to retire. I have already said that, since his widowerhood, he had given less time to his own personal business, and more to public works. Why, indeed, should he continue a concern in which there was no one to succeed him? He could realize now a large fortune for Elizabeth. She would leave school in another year, and they should travel abroad. He never yet had had leisure to take her further than Paris. He now would be free to visit all the great galleries of Europe, which the girl longed to see; for her pursuit of art was keener than ever. She had received her first lessons in oils, and there could no longer be a doubt that her confidence in her own powers was justified; she had decided talent. The devoted father's chief thought, since her mother's death, had been his daughter's happiness. Living at Whiteburn all the year round was probably not the best means to secure that. He must cut himself, comparatively, adrift from his old moorings.
And he did so. By the end of the following year the transaction was completed, which transferred the concern into the hands of a company, and left him a fortune of over three hundred thousand pounds.
