tubby man, with eyes like
boiled gooseberries. No one could guess from his face what manner of man
he might be, whether generous or mean, hot-tempered or good-humoured,
because all those marks which are supposed to delineate character were
in him obliterated by adipose tissue. You had to take him as you found
him. But for the rest he was a merchant who owned a lucrative business
and a few small blunt-nosed steamers that traded along the coasts
adjacent to Timber Town.

As he sat in his office, glancing over the invoices of the wrecked
_Mersey Witch_, and trying to compute the difference between the value
of the cargo and the amount of its insurance, there was a knock at the
door, and Benjamin Tresco entered.

"How d'e do, Tresco? Take a chair," said the man of business. "The
little matter of your rent, eh? That's right; pay your way, Tresco, and
fortune will simply chase you. That's been _my_ experience."

"Then I can only say, sir, it ain't bin mine."

"But, Tresco, the reason of that is because you're so long-winded.
Getting money from you is like drawing your eye-teeth. But, come, come;
you're improving, you're getting accustomed to paying punctually. That's
a great thing, a very great thing."

"To-day," said the goldsmith, with the most deferential manner of which
he was capable, "I have _not_ come to pay."

"Mr. Tresco!"

"But to get _you_ to pay. I want a little additional loan."

"Impossible, absolutely impossible, Tresco."

"Owing to losses over an unfortunate investment, I find myself in
immediate need of L150. If that amount is not forthcoming, I fear my
brilliant future will become clouded and your rent will remain unpaid
indefinitely."

The fat man laughed wheezily.

"That's very good," he said. "You borrow from me to pay my rent. A very
original idea, Tresco; but don't you think it would be as well as to
borrow from some one else--Varnhagen, for instance?"

"The Jews, Mr. Crookenden; I always try to avoid the Jews. To go to the
Jews means to go to the dogs. Keep me from the hands of the Jews, I
beg."

"But how would you propose to repay me?"

"By assiduous application to business, sir."

"Indeed. Then what have you been doing all this while?"

"Suffering from bad luck." The ghost of a smile flitted across
Benjamin's face as he spoke.

"But Varnhagen is simply swimming in money. He would gladly oblige you."

"He did once, at something like 60 per cent. If I remember rightly, you
took