FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162  
163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   >>   >|  
st be prepared to prove, when you come into court!" "Well, sir! and which of us is likely to be best off for witnesses?--Think of that, sir--I've eighteen young men"---- "We shall chance that, sir," replied Gammon, shrugging his shoulders, and smiling very bitterly; "but again, I ask, what did you dismiss him for? and, sir, I request a plain, straightforward answer." "What did I dismiss him for?--Haven't I eyes and ears?--First and foremost, he's the most odious-mannered fellow I ever came near--and--he hadn't a shirt to his back when I first took him--the ungrateful wretch!--Sir, it's at any rate not against the law, I suppose, to _hate_ a man;--and if it isn't, how I HATE Titmouse!" "Mr. Tag-rag"--said Gammon, lowering his voice, and looking very earnestly at his companion--"can I say a word to you in confidence--the strictest confidence?" "What's it about, sir?" inquired Tag-rag, somewhat apprehensively. "I dare say you may have felt, perhaps, rather surprised at the interest which I--in fact our office, the office of Quirk, Gammon, and Snap, in Saffron Hill--appear to have taken in Mr. Titmouse." "Why, sir, it's _your_ look-out to see how you're to be paid for what you're doing--and I dare say lawyers generally keep a pretty sharp look-out in that direction!" Gammon smiled, and continued--"It may, perhaps, a little surprise you, Mr. Tag-rag, to hear that your present (ought I to say, your _late_?) shopman, Mr. Tittlebat Titmouse, is at this moment probably the very luckiest man--and one among the richest, too--in this kingdom." "Why--you don't mean to say he's drawn a prize in the lottery?"--exclaimed Tag-rag, pricking up his ears, and manifestly changing color. "Pho! my dear sir, _that_ is a mere bagatelle compared with the good fortune which has just fallen to his lot. I solemnly assure you, that I believe it will very shortly turn out that he is at this moment the undoubted owner of an estate worth at least ten thousand a-year, besides a vast accumulation of ready money!" "Ten thousand a-year, sir!--My Titmouse!--Tittlebat Titmouse!--Ten thousand a-year! it's quite impossible!" faltered Tag-rag, after a pause, having gone as pale as death. "I have as little doubt of the fact, however, sir, as I have that you yesterday turned him out of doors, Mr. Tag-rag!" "But"--said Mr. Tag-rag, in a low tone--"who could have dreamed it?--How was--_really_, Mr. Gammon!--how _was_ I to know it?" "T
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162  
163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Titmouse
 

Gammon

 

thousand

 

office

 

Tittlebat

 
moment
 
confidence
 

dismiss

 
changing
 

manifestly


pricking

 

bagatelle

 
solemnly
 

fallen

 
fortune
 

compared

 
assure
 
exclaimed
 

shopman

 

surprise


present

 

luckiest

 

lottery

 

kingdom

 

richest

 

undoubted

 

yesterday

 

turned

 

prepared

 

dreamed


estate

 
impossible
 

faltered

 

accumulation

 

shortly

 
continued
 

suppose

 
lowering
 

earnestly

 
shrugging

shoulders
 

bitterly

 
smiling
 
wretch
 

request

 

odious

 
foremost
 

answer

 
straightforward
 

mannered