taking a handful of silver from his pocket; "good
coin of the realm, with her Majesty's image? But if you asked me if
there was much more where it came from--why, the witness might, as the
newspapers say, hesitate and show confusion."

"You mean, then, in short, there was only coal enough to form a pretext
for a company?"

"I tell you what I mean," said Cutbill, sturdily. "I bolted from London
rather than be stuck in a witness-box and badgered by a cross-examining
barrister, and I 'm not going to expose myself to the same sort of
diversion here from you."

"I assure you, sir, the matter had no interest for me, beyond the
opportunity it afforded you of exculpation."

"For the exculpatory part, I can take it easy," said Cutbill, with a
dry laugh. "I wish I had nothing heavier on my heart than the load of
my conscience; but I 've been signing my name to deeds, and writing Tom
Cutbill across acceptances, in a sort of indiscriminate way, that in the
calmer hours before a Commissioner in Bankruptcy ain't so pleasant. I
must say, Bramleigh, your distinguished relative, Culduff, doesn't cut
up well."

"I think, Mr. Cutbill, if you have any complaint to make of Lord
Culduff, you might have chosen a more fitting auditor than his
brother-in-law."

"I thought the world had outgrown the cant of connection. I thought
that we had got to be so widely-minded, that you might talk to a man
about his sister as freely as if she were the Queen of Sheba."

"Pray do me the favor to believe me still a bigot, sir."

"How far is Lord Culduff involved in the mishap you speak of, Mr.
Cutbill?" said Nelly, with a courteousness of tone she hoped might
restore their guest to a better humor.

"I think he 'll net some five-and-twenty thousand out of the
transaction; and from what I know of the distinguished Viscount, he 'll
not lie awake at night fretting over the misfortunes of Tom Cutbill and
fellows."

"Will this--this misadventure," stammered out Augustus, "prevent your
return to England?"

"Only for a season. A man lies by for these things, just as he does for
a thunderstorm; a little patience, and the sun shines out, and he walks
about freely as ever. If it were not, besides, for this sort of thing,
we City men would never have a day's recreation in life; nothing
but work, work, from morning till night. How many of us would see
Switzerland, I ask you, if we didn't smash? The Insolvent Court is the
way to the Rhine, Bramleigh, take