"I must speak, and about your future, for I have but a little time left me. I shall leave you all I have, my sweet child, and it is much more than any one dreams of, save Moth. Of him, too, Gilbert, I want to speak before it is too late. Everything he did was by my direction, save that his zeal for me made him sometimes forget what was due to others. That was only an excess of virtue, for in all things, great and small, he has been true to me; and much of my great fortune, and it is truly great, is due to his advice and never-failing friendship. Treasure him when I am gone, sweet one, for no matter what you have thought, he is a man to trust; pure gold tried over and over again in the furnace of life. It was he who reconciled me, in my heart, to your Uncle Job. For after the trial he came and confessed to me, almost on his knees, how grievously he had been mistaken, and that in all things Mr. Throckmorton’s honor and good intentions were what they should be. Thus it has proven; for if you have struggled on seemingly alone, it was for your good, and has built you up as I could not have done, nor your uncle, had you looked to him. In this he has been wise, as you will see more plainly as the years pass." "He would have aided me more than he has had I let him," I answered, anxious to do him justice. "I know; and you have been a little headstrong, Gilbert, but only that you might provide for yourself. I don’t treasure it against you, for only good has come of it, and I love you all the more. Now, Gilbert, let me say a word about other things, for I have but little strength, and may never be able to speak to you again. All my life, as you know, I have occupied myself with business. What else could I do? Had I married, as I might, and happily, it would have been different. Determining otherwise, and most unwisely, I set out to build up our fortune, and for your good, hoping to transmit our name, not as it is known in this distracted country, but as it was in another and more peaceful land. In this I have succeeded beyond all my hopes, but much of my success has been due to Moth. Wild Plum I redeemed, as I could under your father’s deed, and you will treasure it, and keep this place too, I hope, in remembrance of me. Beneath these farms, and underlying all the many thousand acres I leave you, there lie boundless fields of coal, the worth of which no one dreams of now. For in a little while our young state will have filled with people, and with them will come factories, and the furnaces of these you will help to feed. These lands I leave to you, and other things for your present wants, so that you may spend all your life and still be rich; but do this in moderation, Gilbert. Others will come after you. Leave something for them. Do not be idle, but occupy yourself not less fully now that you will be rich. For idleness is like a foul distemper that destroys the mind and saps