Explore "The Remittance Man" by Ambrose Pratt on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Major Reay's house, familiarly known all over the river as "The Folly," was prettily situated at the head of a little sheltered cove near the river's mouth, within the bar, about two miles from the township of Ballina. It was so called because the Major, in building it, had embarked upon a temporary career of extravagance which his acquaintances had regarded as little short of lunacy.
The house was constructed of finest white marble imported at immense expense from Italy, and though not really of prodigious size, its dimensions and beauty of design, rendered contemptible by comparison every other mansion in the district. The fact was that the Major, who had been a poor man until comparatively late in years, had cherished secretly throughout his poverty a dream of one day returning to England; and repurchasing the home of his fathers--a stately old castle lost to the family by the prodigality of his ancestors. The time arrived when he found himself able, financially speaking, to gratify his wishes, but other considerations intervened; his physicians warned him that the climate of England would infallibly cut short his life.