"Do you understand what I mean by doing this?" Mr. Morsan said, standing at the window of the study on the second floor, looking at the still busy stalls downstairs. Now it was his mother who was watching the stalls selling things.
After lunch, Mr. Morsant motioned to Claude to follow him to the study on the second floor. It seemed that he wanted to talk to Claude, or maybe he wanted to know what Claude was thinking.
As Claude expected, the study was also empty. All the things that could be sold were moved downstairs. The only ones left in it were the thick old desk, a very worn armchair, and an old Animal skin sofa. Claude suspected that if the armchair and sofa were not too old and the fur was too worn, his father would probably move them and sell them. As for the desk, it was too heavy for Mr. Morsan to move.
Claude nodded, shrugged again, and spread his hands: "You understand what you are doing, but I think you are too exaggerated."
Mr. Morsant turned around, walked to the desk, took out the silver cigarette case with cut tobacco from the drawer, and took out the black mulberry ivory mouth pipe from his pocket, and picked up a handful of tobacco from the silver cigarette case. The tobacco is slowly stuffed into the pipe. These two things were his favorites, and he was reluctant to sell them.
"I'm very happy that you can understand. This shows that your mind is much smarter than your brother, and your vision can also see further." Mr. Molsang lit the tobacco in his pipe, took a deep breath, and then slowly Slowly blowing out the cigarette from his mouth: "Abel has never understood the fact that although I was exonerated and just fired from my official position, it does not mean that everything is over. Doom has not been far away from our home.
An accident in the merchant fleet means that all our investments have been wasted. The only reason is that we thought too well of everything and only saw the golden rewards in our eyes, but forgot the risks, so that we lost everything. Even the futures of Thomas and I were ruined. We could have gone further. It was not impossible to obtain a knighthood just by opening up new routes. "
Mr. Morsanne smoked his pipe bitterly, and it could be seen that he was a little excited and more regretful.
Claude didn't know what to say, and couldn't think of how to comfort his father. However, Mr. Molsang quickly controlled his mood and said with a wry smile: "It's too late to say anything now. There is no regret medicine in this world. But you must remember my lesson, too much is too little, and you can't be too greedy."
Claude nodded, meaning he understood.
Mr. Morsan sat down on the old armchair: "It's not that our family has no money, it's just that I used all the money to invest in the merchant fleet. An ocean-going merchant ship with people and cargo costs five hundred gold crowns. I At that time, I invested all my family's savings of 350 gold crowns and borrowed another 150 gold crowns from the National Bank. I thought that this ocean-going merchant ship could bring ten times the income to our family. Unexpectedly, They were all robbed by those damn pirates."
Claude couldn't help but was speechless. He really didn't expect that his father, who had been the town administrator for more than ten years, could accumulate such a huge sum of money. It seemed that there were real advantages in holding a public office.
Mr. Morsant obviously knew what Claude was thinking. He shook his head and said: "Claude, your father has been an administrator for more than ten years and has never embezzled a penny in official business. These savings are actually those Dividends from the shares are accumulated every year. I do not deny that I can own those shares because of my position, but this does not mean that I forcefully buy shares. Many people invite me to buy shares just to avoid trouble, and at the same time, I also pay out the money to buy shares. Real money."
"Father, I don't think so" Claude sweated.
Mr. Morsant continued to smoke, and then sighed: "Albert always thought that these shares were one of the family properties he would inherit in the future, but he did not want to think that now that I have lost my official position, I will be punished if I continue to own these shares. Someone is coveting it. So in order to avoid trouble, I cashed out all these shares a few days ago and exchanged them for more than 400 gold crowns. On the one hand, it was to repay the bank loan, and on the other hand, it was to cope with the upcoming trouble."
Claude suddenly felt strange that his father should discuss these matters with Albert. After all, the Kingdom of Ovelas practiced the law of primogeniture. As the second son, he usually becomes independent from the family and opens a new account when he becomes an adult. In the case where the eldest son still exists,