Lucius Davoren, Volume II

The thought of this conversation with Mr. Sivewright followed Lucius all through the day's work. He meditated upon it in the intervals of his toil, and that meditation only tended to confirm him in his opinion as to the lonely old man. Soured and embittered by his son's ingratitude, Homer Sivewright had consoled himself by the indulgence of that passion which is of all passions the most absorbing-the greed of gain. As he beheld his profits accumulate he became more and more parsimonious; surrendered without regret the pleasures for which he had no taste; and having learned in his poverty to live a life of hardship and deprivation, was contented to do without luxuries and even comforts which had never become necessary to his existence. Thus the sole delight of his days had been the accumulation of money, and who could tell how far the usurer's exorbitant profits had gone to swell the tradesman's honest gains? The art collection might have been little more than a cover for the money-lender's less reputable commerce.

Thus reasoned Lucius. He returned to Cedar House at about five in the afternoon, having dined hastily at a coffee-house in the Shadrack-road, in the midst of his day's work.