No amount of trouble would have been likely to
have increased my godson's estate one half so much as it had increased
without my taking any trouble at all.
Midland stock at the end of August 1850, when I sold out Miss Pontifex's
debentures, stood at 32 pounds per 100 pounds. I invested the whole of
Ernest's 15,000 pounds at this price, and did not change the investment
till a few months before the time of which I have been writing
lately--that is to say until September 1861. I then sold at 129 pounds
per share and invested in London and North-Western ordinary stock, which
I was advised was more likely to rise than Midlands now were. I bought
the London and North-Western stock at 93 pounds per 100 pounds, and my
godson now in 1882 still holds it.
The original 15,000 pounds had increased in eleven years to over 60,000
pounds; the accumulated interest, which, of course, I had re-invested,
had come to about 10,000 pounds more, so that Ernest was then worth over
70,000 pounds. At present he is worth nearly double that sum, and all as
the result of leaving well alone.
Large as his property now was, it ought to be increased still further
during the year and a half that remained of his minority, so that on
coming of age he ought to have an income of at least 3500 pounds a year.
Pages:
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595