last.
By-the-bye, I shall have half a day at the seaside on Monday. There's
a sale of building-plots down at Whitsand. The estate agents run a
complimentary special train for people going down to bid, and give a
lunch before the auction begins. Not bad business.'

'Are _you_ going to bid?' asked Nancy.

'I'm going to have a look, at all events; and if I see anything that
takes my fancy--. Ever been to Whitsand? I'm told it's a growing place.
I should like to get hold of a few advertising stations.--Where is it
you are going to on Monday? Teignmouth? I don't know that part of the
country. Wish I could run down, but I shan't have time. I've got my work
cut out for August and September. Would you like to come and see the
place where I think of opening shop?'

'Is it far?'

'No. We'll walk round when we've been up the Monument. You don't often
go about the City, I daresay. Nothing doing, of course, on a Saturday
afternoon.'

Nancy made him moderate his pace, which was too quick for her. Part of
the pleasure she found in Crewe's society came from her sense of being
so undeniably his superior; she liked to give him a sharp command,
and observe his ready obedience. To his talk she listened with a
good-natured, condescending smile, occasionally making a remark which
implied a more liberal view, a larger intelligence, than his. Thus, as
they stood for a moment to look down at the steamboat wharf, and Crewe
made some remark about the value of a cargo just being discharged, she
said carelessly:

'I suppose that's the view you take of everything? You rate everything
at market price.'

'Marketable things, of course. But you know me well enough to
understand that I'm not always thinking of the shop. Wait till I've made
money.--Now then, clumsy!'

A man, leaning over the parapet by Nancy's side, had pushed against her.
Thus addressed he glared at the speaker, but encountered a bellicose
look which kept him quiet.

'I shall live in a big way,' Crewe continued, as they walked on towards
Fish Street Hill. 'Not for the swagger of it; I don't care about that,
but because I've a taste for luxury. I shall have a country house, and
keep good horses. And I should like to have a little farm of my own, a
model farm; make my own butter and cheese, and know that I ate the real
thing. I shall buy pictures. Haven't I told you I like pictures? Oh yes.
I shall go round among the artists, and encourage talent that hasn't
made itself known.