h."

"That, considering hall things, you think he and you ought to--"

"Well?"

"Just divide it between you; share and share alike. Say it's fourteen
thousand--and it's more than that--that would be seven for him and
seven for you. Tell him you'll agree to that, but you won't take one
farthing less."

"Aby!" said the father, almost overcome by the grandeur of his son's
ideas.

"Well; and what of Haby? What's the matter now?"

"Expect him to shell out seven thousand pounds a year!"

"And why not? He'll do a deal more than that, I expect, if he were
quite sure that it would make all things serene. But it won't; and
therefore you must make him another hoffer."

"Another offer!"

"Yes. He'll know well enough that you'll be thinking of his death.
And for all they do say he might pop off any day."

"He's a younger man than me, Aby, by full ten years."

"What of that? You may pop off any day too, mayn't you? I believe you
old fellows don't think of dying nigh as hoften as we young ones."

"You young ones are always looking for us old ones to go. We all know
that well enough."

"That's when you've got anything to leave behind you, which hain't
the case with you, governor, just at present. But what I was saying
is this. He'll know well enough that you can split upon his son
hafter he's gone, every bit as well as you can split on him now."

"Oh, I always looked to make the young gentleman pay up handsome, if
so be the old gentleman went off the hooks. And if so be he and I
should go off together like, why you'd carry on, of course. You'll
have the proofs, you know."

"Oh, I should, should I? Well, we'll look to them by-and-by. But
I'll tell you what, governor, the best way is to make all that safe.
We'll make him another hoffer--for a regular substantial family
harrangement--"

"A family arrangement, eh?"

"Yes; that's the way they always manage things when great family
hinterests is at stake. Let him give us a cool seven thousand a year
between us while he's alive; let him put you down for twenty thousand
when he's dead--that'd come out of the young gentleman's share of the
property, of course--and then let him give me his daughter Hemmeline,
with another twenty thousand tacked on to her skirt-tail. I should be
mum then for hever for the honour of the family."

The father for a moment or two was struck dumb by the magnitude
of his son's proposition. "That's what I call playing the game
firm," continued t