He could not understand why reformers were not better appreciated about Nyack.

The stock-holders, however, had lost all their money, and were glad to sell out to Chapman, which they did for a trifle, and that was all he wanted.
People began to inquire what the big building would next be turned into.
Mrs.Chapman and her dear husband, as she called him, were always projecting something new.

Indeed, she saw two fortunes in the future where Chapman only saw one.

The thought invaded her mind that there was a fortune to be made by turning the big house into a great moral progress boarding-school for young ladies, where "all the proprieties" would be strictly attended to.

Yes, "the proprieties" would take with steady-minded people.