208 Listory of Gutta-Percha Willie.

 

Priory Leas and had consulted him about it.
Finding thatthere wasno such accommodation to be
had as he judged suitable, he seriously advised
Willie to build a house fit for persons of position, as
he called them, assuring him that they would soon
make their fortunes if they did. Now although, as
I have said, this was not the ambition of either
father or son, for a fortune had never seemed to
either worth taking trouble about, yet it suggested
something that was better.

“Why,” said Willie to his father, “shouldn’t we
restore a bit of the Priory in such a way that a man
like Mr Yellowley could endure it for a little
while? He would pay us well, and then we should
be able to do more for those that can’t pay us.”

“ We couldn’t cook for a man like that,” said his
mother.

“He wouldn’t want that,” said his father, “He
would be sure to bring his own servants.

The result was that Mr MacMichael thought the
thing worth trying, and resolved to lay out all his
little savings, as well as what Willie could add, on
getting a kitchen and a few convenient rooms con-
structed in the ruins—of course keeping as much as
possible to their plan and architectural character.
He found, however, that it would want a good deal
more than they could manage to scrape together
between them, and was on the point of giving up the
scheme, or at least altering it for one that would