they began to ascend the mountain, he got on to the subject of his
own business and George's prospects. 'The dues to the Commune are
so heavy,' he said, 'that in fact there is little or nothing to be
made out of the timber. It looks like a business, because many men
are employed, and it's a kind of thing that spreads itself, and
bears looking at. But it leaves nothing behind.'

'It's not quite so bad as that, I hope,' said George.

'Upon my word then it is not much better, my boy. When you've
charged yourself with interest on the money spent on the mills,
there is not much to boast about. You're bound to replant every
yard you strip, and yet the Commune expects as high a rent as when
there was no planting to be done at all. They couldn't get it, only
that men like myself have their money in the mills, and can't well
get out of the trade.'

'I don't think you'd like to give it up, father.'

'Well, no. It gives me exercise and something to do. The women
manage most of it down at the house; but there must be a change when
Marie has gone. I have hardly looked it in the face yet, but I know
there must be a change. She has grown up among it till she has it
all at her fingers' ends. I tell you what, George, she is a girl in
a hundred,--a girl in a hundred. She is going to marry a rich man,
and so it don't much signify; but if she married a poor man, she
would be as good as a fortune to him. She'd make a fortune for any
man. That's my belief. There is nothing she doesn't know, and
nothing she doesn't understand.'