They create a pretty
solid fortune for my family,--that is to say, for my daughter and her
children. A sensible business man,--and I claim to be one,--looks
ahead, my lords. Railroads are all right as long as you are alive and
can run them yourself. It's after you are dead that they fail to do
what is expected of them. New fingers get into the pie, and you never
can tell what they'll pull out in their greediness. I cannot imagine
anything safer in the shape of an investment than the bonds of a
nation that has a debt of less than fifty million dollars. As a
citizen of a republic whose national debt is nearly a billion, I
confess that I can't see how you've managed so well."
"We are so infinitesimal, Mr. Blithers, that I daresay we could be
lost in the smallest of your states," said Baron Romano, with a
smile.
"Rhode Island is pretty small," Mr. Blithers informed him, without a
smile.
"It is most gratifying to Graustark to know that you value our
securities so highly as a legacy," said Count Lazzar, suavely. "May I
venture the hope, however, that your life may be prolonged beyond the
term of their existence? They expire in a very few years--a dozen, in
fact.
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