ess than
babies, and who would be mere tools in the hands of their manager; and I
had the excellent excuse that I considered the legal adviser of a bank
should have no pecuniary stake whatever in its affairs, but be able to
act altogether without bias."

There was an ironical smile on his lips, and his wife said, admiringly--

"How clever you are, Jeremiah."

"It did not require much cleverness for that," he said, with some
complacency. "You can reserve your compliments, my dear, until we are
established at Fairclose. All I ask is that you won't ask any questions
or allude to the matter until it is settled, but leave it entirely in my
hands. So far things are working in the right direction."

"Perhaps it will be a good thing for Cuthbert Hartington after all," she
said, after sitting for some minutes in silence.

"No doubt it will," he said. "At any rate as he does not take it to
heart in the slightest degree, we need not worry ourselves over him."

"It is funny," she said, "but sometimes the idea has occurred to me that
Cuthbert might some day take a fancy to one of our girls, and I might
see one of them mistress at Fairclose; but I never dreamt I might be
mistress there myself, and I can't guess, even now, how you can think of
managing it."

"Don't you trouble to guess, at all, my dear; be content with the plum
when it falls into your mouth, and don't worry yourself as to how I
manage to shake the tree to bring the fruit down."

Three weeks later it became known definitely that after calling up the
remainder of the bank's capital there would be a deficiency of nearly a
million, and that every shareholder would be called upon to contribute
to the full extent of his ability, to cover the losses. One or two
letters from Mr. Brander had already prepared Cuthbert for the final
result of the investigation, and he had already begun to carry out the
plan he had marked out for himself. He had, as soon as he had returned,
astonished his friends by informing them that he found that instead of
coming into his father's estates, as he had expected, it was not likely
he would ever touch a penny from them, as his father had been a
shareholder in the Abchester Bank, and so he believed everything would
be swept away.

"Fortunately," he went on, "I have got enough of my own to keep my head
above water, and, I dare say you fellows won't believe me, but I mean to
go to work in earnest."

The announcement was made to a dozen me