frugal way as his father, and to take his oath that during his lifetime
and stewardship he would not sell or give away one particle of the
estate, whether real or personal, which he received under the will.
Further, he must give up all claim on his mother's estate for ever, and
must relinquish all that she might give or bequeath him to his brother.

"To say that your father was furious would hardly express his state of
mind. I have already said that the whole amount of cash left was barely
enough for the funeral expenses. The bonds which were found proved to be
so many worthless pieces of parchment. The jewellery of recent
workmanship consisted of a set of valueless shirt-studs and a watch that
would not have fetched ten florins at auction. Of silver there was a
tablespoon, a teaspoon, a ladle, and two or three pieces of tableware,
bent, crooked, and broken, hardly worth the mentioning. Of horses there
were two lean and decrepit-looking animals, and the cattle consisted of
a diminutive black cow and her calf, neither of much value, yet forming
no doubt the most valuable part of the whole bequest. This was your
father's portion, for as to his taking the other part, giving up the
prospect of our mother's goodly store of money and other property, and
living a secluded life as guardian of a museum, that was entirely out of
the question.

"To tell that I felt pleased or glad on taking possession of the immense
wealth my father had left me would be a falsehood. I was young, and not
altogether devoid of the passions and inclinations pertaining to that
age. But I had interpreted the true spirit of my father's will, and I
knew that all this seeming spite and injustice was really a token of his
great love for me and of his great wisdom. Had he not stipulated such
hard conditions, my brother would have taken and squandered these lands
and goods as he squandered our mother's fortune, and I should not have