Page:A strange, sad comedy (IA strangesadcomedy00seawiala).pdf/129

Rh ing the whole story. By far the bulk of their fortune was gone, but there was still enough left for his mother and sisters to live comfortably.

"As for myself," he wrote, "without indulging in any cant or hypocrisy, I can say that the loss of what might have been mine has great compensations for me. I shall now be free to pursue my profession of architecture, which I love with the greatest enthusiasm. Formerly I was handicapped by being thought a rich man, and among my fellows in my trade it was always against me that I took money which I did not need. But now I am upon the same footing as the rest, and I shall have a chance to pursue it, not as a dilettante, but as a working member of a great profession. I have done some things that have been commended, and I have got engagements already, although I have not yet opened an office. But I have taken one in New York. So, although I suppose no man ever lost money who did not regret it, I can say, with great sincerity, that I know of no man who ever lost it to whom it was so slight a real loss."

Letty and the Colonel both liked Farebro-