ng. Two thousand
a year! Five hundred a quarter! Forty pounds a week! Forty-three with
your little income! Well, what do you say?"

Mr. Hine sat dazzled with the prospect of wealth, immediate wealth,
actually within his reach now. But he had lived amongst people who never
did anything for nothing, who spoke only a friendship when they proposed
to borrow money, and at the back of his mind suspicion and incredulity
were still at work. Somehow Jarvice would be getting the better of him.
In his dull way he began to reason matters out.

"But suppose I died before my uncle, then you would get nothing,"
he objected.

"Ah, to be sure! I had not forgotten that point," said Mr. Jarvice. "It
is a contingency, of course, not very probable, but still we do right to
consider it." He leaned back in his chair, and once again he fixed his
eyes upon his visitor in a long and silent scrutiny. When he spoke again,
it was in a quieter voice than he had used. One might almost have said
that the real business of the interview was only just beginning.

"There is a way which will save me from loss. You can insure your life as
against your uncle's, for a round sum--say for a hundred thousand pounds.
You will make over the policy to me. I shall pay the premiums, and so if
anything were to happen to you I should be recouped."

He never once removed his eyes from Hine's face. He sat with his elbows
on the arms of his chair and his hands folded beneath his chin, quite
still, but with a queer look of alertness upon his whole person.

"Yes, I see," said Mr. Hine, as he turned the proposal over in his mind.

"Do you agree?" asked Jarvice.

"Yes," said Walter Hine.

"Very well," said Jarvice, all his old briskness returning. "The sooner
the arrangement is pushed through, the better for you, eh? You will begin
to touch the dibs." He laughed and Walter Hine chuckled. "As to the
insurance, you will have to get the company's doctor's certificate, and I
should think it would be wise to go steady for a day or two, what? You
have been going the pace a bit, haven't you? You had better see your
solicitor to-day. As soon as the post-obit and the insurance policy are
in this office, Mr. Hine, your first quarter's income is paid into your
bank. I will have an agreement drawn, binding me on my side to pay you
two thousand a year until your uncle's death."

Mr. Jarvice rose as if the interview was ended. He moved some papers on
his table, and added careles