swer was as a labour of Hercules, staved off the evil day for
awhile by declaring that he must know what was the price before he
could say whether he would sell the article. The exact price could
not be fixed. The lawyers combined in saying that the absolute sum
of money to include all Ralph's interest in the estate could not be
named that side of Christmas. It was not to be thought of that any
actuary, or valuer, or lawyer, or conveyancer, should dispose of
so great a matter by a month's work. But something approaching to
a settlement might be made. A sum might be named as a minimum. And
a compact might be made, subject to the arbitration of a sworn
appraiser. A sum was named. The matter was carried so far, that Ralph
was told that he could sign away all his rights by the middle of
September,--sign away the entire property,--and have his pockets
filled with ample funds for the Moonbeam, and all other delights. He
might pay off Moggs and Neefit, and no longer feel that Polly,--poor
dear Polly,--was a millstone round his neck. And he would indeed, in
this event, be so well provided, that he did not for a moment doubt
that, if he chose so to circumscribe himself, Clarissa Underwood
might be his wife. All the savings of the Squire's life would be
his,--enough, as the opposing lawyer told him with eager pressing
words, to give him an estate of over a thousand a year at once. "And
it may be more,--probably will be more," said the lawyer. But at the
very least a sum approaching to thirty thousand pounds would be paid
over to him at once. And he might do what he pleased with this. There
was still a remnant of his own paternal property sufficient to pay
his debts.

But why should a man whose encumbrances were so trifling, sacrifice
prospects that were so glorious? Could he not part with a portion
of the estate,--with the reversion of half of it, so that the house
of Newton, Newton Priory, with its grouse and paddocks and adjacent
farms, might be left to him? If the whole were saleable, surely
so also must be the half. The third of the money offered to him
would more than suffice for all his wants. No doubt he might sell
the half,--but not to the Squire, nor could he effect such sale
immediately as he would do if the Squire bought it, nor on such
terms as were offered by the Squire. Money he might raise at once,
certainly; but it became by degrees as a thing certain to him, that
if once he raised money in that way, the estate w