Edith Wharton

“ Chapter XXXV Within forty-eight hours Ralph's money was in Moffatt's hands, and the interval of suspense had begun.
The transaction over, he felt the deceptive buoyancy that follows on periods of painful indecision. It seemed to him that now at last life had freed him from all trammelling delusions, leaving him only the best thing in its gift--his boy.
The things he meant Paul to do and to be filled his fancy with happy pictures. The child was growing more and more interesting--throwing out countless tendrils of feeling and perception that delighted Ralph but preoccupied the watchful Laura. ”

“ Marvell's representatives that the latest date agreed on for the execution of the financial agreement was the end of the following week.
Ralph, alarmed, betook himself at once to the Ararat, and his first glimpse of Moffatt's round common face and fastidiously dressed person gave him an immediate sense of reassurance. He felt that under the circle of baldness on top of that carefully brushed head lay the solution of every monetary problem that could beset the soul of man. Moffatt's voice had recovered its usual cordial note, and the warmth of his welcome dispelled Ralph's last apprehension. ”

“ All these converging proofs of Moffatt's solidity strengthened Ralph's faith in his venture. He remembered with what astuteness and authority Moffatt had conducted their real estate transaction--how far off and unreal it all seemed!--and awaited events with the passive faith of a sufferer in the hands of a skilful surgeon.
The days moved on toward the end of June, and each morning Ralph opened his newspaper with a keener thrill of expectation. Any day now he might read of the granting of the Apex charter: Moffatt had assured him it would "go through" before the close of the month. ”