Uncle Stanley of late had been a frequent visitor on the hill, occasionally bringing his son Burdon with him, but generally coming alone.

After dinner he and Josiah would sit in the den till well past midnight, going over papers and figures, and drafting out instructions for Judge Cutler, the firm's lawyer.
Mary was never able to overcome her aversion to Uncle Stanley.
"I wish he'd stay away," she ruefully remarked to her father one night.
"Three evenings this week I haven't been able to come in the den." "Never mind, dear," said Josiah, looking at her with love in his sombre eyes.

"What we're doing: it's all for you." "All for me?
How ?" He explained to her that whereas Josiah Spencer & Son had always been a firm, it was now being changed to a corporation.
"As long as there was a son," he said, "the partnership arrangement was all right.

But the way things are now--Well, when I'm gone, Mary, you'll own the stock of the company, and draw your dividends, and have no responsibilities to bother you." "But who'll run the factory ?" "I suppose Stanley will, as long as he lives.

You'll be the owner, of course, but I don't think you'll ever find anybody to beat Uncle Stanley as a general manager." "And when Uncle Stanley dies--what then ?" "I think you'll find his son Burdon the next best man." Mary felt her heart grow heavy.