for half his lifetime in making
a clock!)--up jumps the addle-headed major, in the loftiest manner, and
actually tries to look me down. Ha! ha! the idea of anybody looking _me_
down, at my time of life. I behaved like a Christian; I nodded kindly to
old What's-o'clock 'Fine morning, major,' says I. 'Have you any business
with me?' says he. 'Just a word,' says I. Miss Neelie, like the sensible
girl she is, gets up to leave the room; and what does her ridiculous
father do? He stops her. 'You needn't go, my dear, I have nothing to
say to Mr. Pedgift,' says this old military idiot, and turns my way, and
tries to look me down again. 'You are Mr. Armadale's lawyer,' says he;
'if you come on any business relating to Mr. Armadale, I refer you to my
solicitor.' (His solicitor is Darch; and Darch has had enough of _me_ in
business, I can tell you!) 'My errand here, major, does certainly relate
to Mr. Armadale,' says I; 'but it doesn't concern your lawyer--at any
rate, just yet. I wish to caution you to suspend your opinion of my
client, or, if you won't do that, to be careful how you express it in
public. I warn you that our turn is to come, and that you are not at the
end yet of this scandal about Miss Gwilt.' It struck me as likely that
he would lose his temper when he found himself tackled in that way,
and he amply fulfilled my expectations. He was quite violent in his
language--the poor weak creature--actually violent with _me_! I behaved
like a Christian again; I nodded kindly, and wished him good-morning.
When I looked round to wish Miss Neelie good-morning, too, she was gone.
You seem restless, Mr. Armadale," remarked Pedgift Senior, as Allan,
feeling the sting of old recollections, suddenly started out of his
chair, and began pacing up and down the room. "I won't try your patience
much longer, sir; I am coming to the point."

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Pedgift," said Allan, returning to his seat, and
trying to look composedly at the lawyer through the intervening image of
Neelie which the lawyer had called up.

"Well, sir, I left the cottage," resumed Pedgift Senior. "Just as I
turned the corner from the garden into the park, whom should I stumble
on but Miss Neelie herself, evidently on the lookout for me. 'I want to
speak to you for one moment, Mr. Pedgift!' says she. 'Does Mr. Armadale
think _me_ mixed up in this matter?' She was violently agitated--tears
in her eyes, sir, of the sort which my legal experience has _not_