Three hundred and forty thousand went straight out to lawyers, of which about a hundred and ten came back later under the fee orders.

I had been carrying a portion of that on a line of credit at twelve per cent for two years and clearing it was the first thing and the best feeling.

Four hundred and ten thousand went into the house, as a down payment large enough that the mortgage was something I could pay on fifty-eight thousand dollars a year if every other thing in the world went wrong.

That was deliberate and it was the single decision I am most sure about.