at; and in a moment
the two were launched on a flood of reminiscences, and the flight of
time was not one of the things they remembered. The hour and the
quarters sounded, and they talked on. But the insistence of noon, boomed
by the Law Courts' clock, brought Miss Rainham to her feet.

"Twelve!" she cried. "How time goes! And I've never told you what I came
for. Look here. I'm frightfully rich; I only heard it last week. My
uncle never seemed very well off. We lived very simply, and I used to do
the washing-up and the dusting and things; and now he's died and left me
all his money. I don't know where he kept it all. The people on the
floor above here wrote me about it. I was going to see them, and I saw
your name; and I simply couldn't pass it. Look here, Stephen--are you
very busy?"

"Not too busy to do anything you want. I'm glad you've had luck. What
can I do for you?"

"Will you really do anything I want? Promise."

"Of course I promise." He looked at her and wondered if she knew how
hard it would be to him to refuse her anything: for Mr Guillemot had
been fancy free, and this gracious vision, re-risen from old times, had
turned his head a little.

"Good! You must be my solicitor."

"But I can't. Jones----"

"Bother Jones!" she said. "I shan't go near him. I won't be worried by
Jones. What is the use of having a fortune--and it's a big fortune, I
can tell you--if I mayn't even choose my own solicitor? Look here,
Stephen--really--I have no relations and no friends in England--no man
friends, I mean--and you won't charge me more than you ought, but you
will charge me enough. Oh, I feel like Mr Boffin--and you are Mortimer
Lightwood, and Andrew is Eugene. Do you call him Dora still?"

It was the first question she had asked about the boy who had shared all
their youth with them.

"Oh, Dornington is all right. He'd be awfully sick if you called him
Dora nowadays. He's got on a little--not much. He goes in for
journalism. He's at Lymchurch just now; he lives here with me
generally."

"Yes--I know; I saw his name on the door." And Stephen did not wonder
till later why she had not mentioned that name earlier in the interview.

"Here, give me paper and pens, the best there is time to procure. Now
tell me what to say to Jones. I want to tell him that I loathe his very
name; that I know I could never bear the sight of him; and that you are
going to look after everything for me."

He resisted--she pleaded; and