"What should you like to do?"
"I should like to put a little wind in her sails."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I should like to put it into her power to do some of the things she wants. She wants to see the world for instance. I should like to put money in her purse."
"Ah, I'm glad you've thought of that," said the old man. "But I've thought of it too. I've left her a legacy--five thousand pounds."
"That's capital; it's very kind of you. But I should like to do a little more."
Something of that veiled acuteness with which it had been on Daniel Touchett's part the habit of a lifetime to listen to a financial proposition still lingered in the face in which the invalid had not obliterated the man of business. "I shall be happy to consider it," he said softly.
"Isabel's poor then. My mother tells me that she has but a few hundred dollars a year. I should like to make her rich."
"What do you mean by rich?"
"I call people rich when they're able to meet the requirements of their imagination. Isabel has a great deal of imagination."
"So have you, my son," said Mr. Touchett, listening very attentively but a little confusedly.
"You tell me I shall have money enough for two. What I want is that you should kindly relieve me of my superfluity and make it over to Isabel. Divide my inheritance into two equal halves and give her the second."
"To do what she likes with?"
"Absolutely what she likes."
"And without an equivalent?"
"What equivalent could there be?"
"The one I've already mentioned."
"Her marrying--some one or other? It's just to do away with anything of that sort that I make my suggestion. If she has an easy income she'll never have to marry for a support. That's what I want cannily to prevent. She wishes to be free, and your bequest will make her free."
"Well, you seem to have thought it out," said Mr. Touchett. "But I don't see why you appeal to me. The money will be yours, and you can easily give it to her yourself."
Ralph openly stared. "Ah, dear father, I can't offer Isabel money!"
The old man gave a groan. "Don't tell me you're not in love with her! Do you want me to have the credit of it?"