I must therefore
send you enough gold, to provide for George as your other children will
be provided for; you can settle it upon him at once, and make it clear
that the settlement is instead of provision for him by will. The
difficulty is in the getting the gold into Erewhon, and until it is
actually here, he must know nothing about it."
I have no space for the discussion that followed. In the end it was
settled that George was to have 2000 pounds in gold, which the Mayor
declared to be too much, and my father too little. Both, however, were
agreed that Erewhon would before long be compelled to enter into
relations with foreign countries, in which case the value of gold would
decline so much as to make 2000 pounds worth little more than it would be
in England. The Mayor proposed to buy land with it, which he would hand
over to George as a gift from himself, and this my father at once acceded
to. All sorts of questions such as will occur to the reader were raised
and settled, but I must beg him to be content with knowing that
everything was arranged with the good sense that two such men were sure
to bring to bear upon it.
The getting the gold into Erewhon was to be managed thus. George was to
know nothing, but a promise was to be got from him that at noon on the
following New Year's day, or whatever day might be agreed upon, he would
be at the statues, where either my father or myself would meet him, spend
a couple of hours with him, and then return.
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