Two years after the marriage Mr. Hardy senior died, and
from that time Frank had carried on the business alone.
B--- was a large provincial town, but it scarcely afforded
remunerative employment for an architect; and although Mr. Hardy
had no competitor in his business, the income which he derived from
it was by no means a large one, and the increasing expenses of his
family rendered the struggle to make ends meet yearly more severe.
His father had been possessed of a small private fortune, but had
rashly entered into the mania of railway speculation, and at his
death had left about fifteen thousand dollars to his son. This sum
Frank Hardy had carefully preserved intact, as he had foreseen that
the time might come when it would, for his children's sake, be
advisable to emigrate. He had long looked forward to this, but
had abstained from taking any step until his sons were of an age to be
able to make themselves useful in a life in the bush or upon the
prairies.
Frank Hardy, at the time our story begins, was about forty. He was
a tall, active man, and the life he had led in America when young
had hardened his muscles, and given him the full use of every
faculty.
Mrs. Hardy was five years younger than her husband, and scarcely
looked thirty years old.
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