to sit by quiet and see you ruined."

"Who talks about my being ruined?"

"Well, I believe all Baslehurst pretty well is talking about it. If
a man will go on with a lawsuit when his own lawyer says he oughtn't,
what else can come to him but ruin?"

"You don't know anything about it. I wish you'd hold your tongue, and
let me go to bed."

"I do know something about it, Mr. Tappitt; and I won't hold my
tongue. It's all very well for you to bid me hold my tongue; but am
I to sit by and see you ruined, and the girls left without a bit to
eat or a thing to wear? Goodness knows I've never thought much about
myself. Nobody will ever say that of me. But it has come to this, T.;
that something must be settled about Rowan's claim. If he hasn't got
justice, he's got law on his side; and he seems to be one of those
who don't care much as long as he's got that. If you ask me, T.--"

"But I didn't ask you," said Tappitt.

Tappitt never actually succumbed in these matrimonial encounters, and
would always maintain courage for a sharp word, even to the last.

"No, I know you didn't;--and more shame to you, not to consult the
wife of your bosom and the mother of your children, when such an
affair as this has to be settled. But if you think I'm going to hold
my tongue, you're mistaken. I know very well how things are going.
You must either let this young man come in as a partner--"

"I'll be ----"

Tappitt would not have disgraced himself by such an exclamation in
his wife's bedroom as he then used if his business in the bar of the
Dragon had been legitimate.

"Very well, sir. I say nothing about the coarseness of your language
on the present occasion, though I might say a great deal if I
pleased. But if you don't choose to have him for a partner,--why then
you must do something else."

"Of course I must."

"Exactly;--and therefore the only thing is for you to take the offer
of a thousand a year that he has made. Now, T., don't begin cursing
and swearing again, because you know that can't do any good. Honyman
says that he'll pay the income;--and if he don't,--if he gets into
arrear with it, then you can come down upon him and turn him out.
Think how you'd like that! You've only just to keep a little ready
money by you, so that you'll have something for six months or so, if
he should get into arrear."

"And I'm to give up everything myself?"

"No, T.; you would not give up anything; quite the other way. You
would have ev