"There you are wrong; every body has a right to do as he pleases with his own property." "To be honest, then," replied Howard, "I have none that I call exclusively my own. Property is given to us for the benefit of others; every man is accountable for his stewardship." "But can you do better than to double and treble it every year, or, by some fortunate speculation, convert ten thousand dollars into ten times ten thousand?" "I should say," replied Howard, "if this were a certainty, it would cease to be _speculation_, and I should feel bound to do it, within honest means. But as the guardian of my family, I feel that I have no right to venture my little capital in a lottery." "It is lucky all men are not of your mind," said Mr. Draper, rather impatiently, and taking up his pen, which he had laid down;--"but really, brother, I am full of engagements, and though I am rejoiced to see you, I must defer further conversation till we meet at dinner; then we shall have time to talk over your affairs; just now, I am wholly engaged." Near the dinner hour Howard went to his brother's house. It was large, and elegantly furnished, and, what in the city is rather uncommon, surrounded by trees and pleasure-grounds, a fine yard in front, and a large garden in the rear. Mr. Draper purchased the place when real estate was low, and it had since risen to more than double its original value. Howard was conducted to the dining-room, where he found his sister-in-law, Mrs. Draper. They met with much cordiality--but he perceived that she was thinner and paler than when they last met. "You are not well, I fear," said Howard, anxiously. "I have a cold," replied she; and with that nervous affection which often follows inquiries after the health, she gave a half-suppressed cough. "Have you seen my husband?" she asked. "Yes, I left the stage at the corner of State Street, and went directly to his counting-room; but I found him engrossed by business, and verily believe I should not have obtained a moment's conversation after the brotherly welcome that his heart gave me in spite of teas, silks, hides, stocks, and per centage, if I had not had a little business of my own,--a little money to invest." "Are you, too, growing rich?" said Mrs. Draper, with a languid smile. "O no," replied Howard; "we farmers have not much prospect of growing _rich_. If we earn a comfortable living, and lay by a little at the end of the year, we call ourselves thriving, and that is the most we can expect." "You have advantages," said Mrs. Draper, "that do not belong to those who are striving to grow rich; you have wealth that money seldom can buy,--_time_."