ther with all the aptitudes and
appurtenances of his business about him. He walked into the room with
a short, quick step; there was no smile on his face as he shook hands
with his old friend; he brought with him a box laden with papers and
parchments, and he had not been a minute in the room before he was
seated in one of the old dingy chairs. "How long have you been in
town, Fothergill?" said Sowerby, still standing with his back against
the chimney. He had resolved on only one thing--that nothing should
induce him to touch, look at, or listen to any of those papers. He
knew well enough that no good would come of that. He also had his own
lawyer, to see that he was pilfered according to rule.

"How long? Since the day before yesterday. I never was so busy in my
life. The duke, as usual, wants to have everything done at once."

"If he wants to have all that I owe him paid at once, he is like to
be out in his reckoning."

"Ah, well; I'm glad you are ready to come quickly to business,
because it's always best. Won't you come and sit down here?"

"No, thank you; I'll stand."

"But we shall have to go through these figures, you know."

"Not a figure, Fothergill. What good would it do? None to me, and
none to you either, as I take it. If there is anything wrong,
Potter's fellows will find it out. What is it the duke wants?"

"Well; to tell the truth, he wants his money."

"In one sense, and that the main sense, he has got it. He gets his
interest regularly, does not he?"

"Pretty well for that, seeing how times are. But, Sowerby, that's
nonsense. You understand the duke as well as I do, and you know very
well what he wants. He has given you time, and if you had taken any
steps towards getting the money, you might have saved the property."

"A hundred and eighty thousand pounds! What steps could I take to
get that? Fly a bill, and let Tozer have it to get cash on it in the
City!"

"We hoped you were going to marry."

"That's all off."

"Then I don't think you can blame the duke for looking for his own.
It does not suit him to have so large a sum standing out any longer.
You see, he wants land, and will have it. Had you paid off what you
owed him, he would have purchased the Crown property; and now, it
seems young Gresham has bid against him, and is to have it. This has
riled him, and I may as well tell you fairly, that he is determined
to have either money or marbles."

"You mean that I am to be dispossesse