Excerpt from Half a Million of Money, Vol. 1 of 3: A Novel These gentlemen did little in the way of conversation. When they spoke at all, it was in a whisper. Now and then, they compared their watches with the time-piece on the mantel shelf. Now and then, they glanced towards the bed, where, propped almost upright with pillows, an old man was sinking gradually out of life. There was something very ghastly in that old man's face, purple-hued, unconscious, and swathed in wet bandages. His eyes were closed. His lips were swollen. His breathing was slow and stertorous. He had been smitten down that day at noon by a stroke of apoplexy was carried home from 'change in a dying state; and had not spoken since. His housekeeper crouched by his bed-side, silent and awestruck. His three sons and his lawyer waited in the drawing-room below. They all knew that he had not two more hours to live. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.