She bent down, and kissed his forehead. "Send me
Charley."
Those were the last words she ever heard him speak.
Agnes had told the young fellow how much feebler Mr. Balfour seemed that
day, and warned him to make his interview as brief as possible; but
Charley was of a sanguine temperament, and to his view the sick man
looked better. The recent excitement had heightened his color, and,
besides, he always strove to look his best and cheerfulest with Charley.
Balfour told him all that he had already said to Agnes respecting the
provision he had made for her; he thought it better to relieve her from
that task. But, to do Charley justice, he was neither grasping nor
jealous. Nothing seemed more natural to him, or even more reasonable,
than that Agnes should be made sole heiress.
"As for me, I should only make a mess of so much money," said he,
laughing. "_She_ understands how to manage"--meaning that she had a
talent for administration of affairs--"five thousand times better than I
do. Her father has taught her all sorts of good things, and that among
them. You see the poor governor and I--we never pulled together. Perhaps
if I had had a father a little less unlike myself, I might have been a
better son, and a wiser one. It was unfortunate, as Mrs. Basil used to
say.
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