They are tall fellows enough but neither
of them has inherited the father's colossal stature, and San Giacinto
looks with a very little envy on his young kinsman Orsino who has
outgrown his cousins. This second marriage has brought him issue, a boy
and a girl, and the fact that he has now four children to provide for
has had much to do with his activity in affairs. He was among the first
to see that an enormous fortune was to be made in the first rush for
land in the city, and he realised all he possessed, and borrowed to the
full extent of his credit to pay the first instalments on the land he
bought, risking everything with the calm determination and cool judgment
which lay at the root of his strong character. He was immensely
successful, but though he had been bold to recklessness at the right
moment, he saw the great crash looming in the near future, and when the
many were frantic to buy and invest, no matter at what loss, his
millions were in part safely deposited in national bonds, and in part as
securely invested in solid and profitable buildings of which the rents
are little liable to fluctuation.
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