I invest it well for him, and
have a sincere satisfaction in the welfare of the sturdy fellow. He is
already a very well-to-do man, and adds to his property every year, and
can make his little house into a big one if he have a mind to do so, the
good Andrew. It is too bad that he is such a hermit, and cannot,
therefore, properly enjoy his home and his possessions."
"Has he, then, neither wife nor family?" asked Max. "And what has become
of his disagreeable brother Jorg?"
"No; he has really nobody," replied his sister. "He lives entirely
alone, and really like a hermit. He has had a long and very sad history
that I have been witness to, and which has taken away all the desire he
once might have felt to look for a wife. His brother Jorg wandered about
here in a disreputable way for several years, never working, but in the
hope of getting something, by his infamous behavior, out of his family,
who were respectable people, quite unlike himself. But, at last, he saw
that there was no chance of this, and even the kind Andrew refused to
pay any more of his debts, or to help him out of any more scrapes, so he
disappeared, nobody knows where; but everybody rejoiced that he was out
of the way."
"What was the sad story of which you spoke, Marie?" asked her brother.
"I want to hear that, too."
"So do I," said the colonel; and lighted another cigar, in order to
enjoy the tale more thoroughly.
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