They had talked together with some intimacy which was made possible by the difference of their ages.

Charles wanted now to find that capitalist of shrewd mind and accessible character.

His father's fortune in Costaguana, which he had supposed to be still considerable, seemed to have melted in the rascally crucible of revolutions.

Apart from some ten thousand pounds deposited in England, there appeared to be nothing left except the house in Sulaco, a vague right of forest exploitation in a remote and savage district, and the San Tome Concession, which had attended his poor father to the very brink of the grave.
He explained those things.

It was late when they parted.