There were so many things for Nicholas to attend to, he hardly knew how he found time to see the family solicitor. What he learned was no less shocking than his father's sudden death. Very little remained of a once sizable fortune. Money that should have been spent paying off mortgages had instead been invested in creating the appearance of abundant wealth. To make matters worse, in the year or two before his death, Mr. Villines had made several attempts to regain his declining fortunes by dipping into the capital of what remained and speculating with the sums. The afternoon Nicholas spent with the solicitor gave ample evidence that his father's talent for business had been close to nonexistent. For a young man brought up to believe he would never have to work for a living, Nicholas Villines was in a trying situation, to say the least. It did not occur to him to ask for help from his family, though any one of them would have been more than happy to do so. Indeed, he was shocked when his solicitor advised him to borrow from his relatives or to leave the country for a prudent period of time.
