ry business arrangements during his
absence from the great house. It was decided that the servants should
be put on board wages, and that Mr. Bashwood should be left in charge.
(Somehow, I don't like this re-appearance of Mr. Bashwood in connection
with my present interests, but there is no help for it.) The next
question--the question of money--was settled at once by Mr. Armadale
himself. All his available ready-money (a large sum) is to be lodged by
Mr. Bashwood in Coutts's Bank, and to be there deposited in Armadale's
name. This, he said, would save him the worry of any further
letter-writing to his steward, and would enable him to get what he
wanted, when he went abroad, at a moment's notice. The plan thus
proposed, being certainly the simplest and the safest, was adopted with
Midwinter's full concurrence; and here the business discussion would
have ended, if the everlasting Mr. Bashwood had not turned up again in
the conversation, and prolonged it in an entirely new direction.

"On reflection, it seems to have struck Midwinter that the whole
responsibility at Thorpe Ambrose ought not to rest on Mr. Bashwood's
shoulders. Without in the least distrusting him, Midwinter felt,
nevertheless, that he ought to have somebody set over him, to apply to
in case of emergency. Armadale made no objection to this; he only asked,
in his helpless way, who the person was to be?

"The answer was not an easy one to arrive at.

"Either of the two solicitors at Thorpe Ambrose might have been
employed, but Armadale was on bad terms with both of them. Any
reconciliation with such a bitter enemy as the elder lawyer, Mr. Darch,
was out of the question; and reinstating Mr. Pedgift in his former
position implied a tacit sanction on Armadale's part of the lawyer's
abominable conduct toward _me_, which was scarcely consistent with
the respect and regard that he felt for a lady who was soon to be his
friend's wife. After some further discussion, Midwinter hit on a new
suggestion which appeared to meet the difficulty. He proposed that
Armadale should write to a respectable solicitor at Norwich, stating his
position in general terms, and requesting that gentleman to act as Mr.
Bashwood's adviser and superintendent when occasion required. Norwich
being within an easy railway ride of Thorpe Ambrose, Armadale saw no
objection to the proposal, and promised to write to the Norwich lawyer.
Fearing that he might make some mistake if he wrote without as