Isabel did more for Fanny than telling her to cheer up.

Everything that Fanny inherited from her father, old Aleck Minafer, had been invested in Wilbur's business; and Wilbur's business, after a period of illness corresponding in dates to the illness of Wilbur's body, had died just before Wilbur did.

George Amberson and Fanny were both "wiped out to a miracle of precision," as Amberson said.

They "owned not a penny and owed not a penny," he continued, explaining his phrase.

"It's like the moment just before drowning: you're not under water and you're not out of it.