It was arranged therefore
that he had better know nothing of what was being done. Pryer was a
much better man of business than he was, and would see to it all. This
relieved Ernest of a good deal of trouble, and was better after all
for the investments themselves; for, as Pryer justly said, a man
must not have a faint heart if he hopes to succeed in buying and
selling upon the Stock Exchange, and seeing Ernest nervous made
Pryer nervous too- at least, he said it did. So the money drifted more
and more into Pryer's hands. As for Pryer himself, he had nothing
but his curacy and a small allowance from his father.
Some of Ernest's old friends got an inkling from his letters of what
he was doing, and did their utmost to dissuade him, but he was as
infatuated as a young lover of two-and-twenty. Finding that these
friends disapproved, he dropped away from them, and they, being
bored with his egotism and high-flown ideas, were not sorry to let him
do so. Of course, he said nothing about his speculations -indeed, he
hardly knew that anything done in so good a cause could be called
speculation. At Battersby, when his father urged him to look out for a
next presentation, and even brought one or two promising ones under
his notice, he made objections and excuses, though always promising to
do as his father desired very shortly.
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