ll he can call a
hansom. Now you have the whole case; and as talking is dry work, might I
ring for a glass of sherry and seltzer?"

"By all means. I am ashamed not to have thought of it before.--This is
a matter for much thought and deliberation," said Bramleigh, as the
servant withdrew, after bringing the wine. "It is too eventful a step to
be taken suddenly."

"If not done promptly, it can't be done at all. A week is n't a long
time to go up to town and get through a very knotty negotiation. Joel
is n't a common money-lender, like Drake or Downie. You can't go to his
office except on formal business. If you want to do a thing in the way
of accommodation with him, you 'll have to take him down to the 'Ship,'
and give him a nice little fish dinner, with the very best Sauterne you
can find; and when you 're sitting out on the balcony over the black
mud,--the favorite spot men smoke their cheroots in,--then open your
business; and though he knows well it was all 'a plant,' he 'll not
resent it, but take it kindly and well."

"I am certain that so nice a negotiation could not be in better hands
than yours, Mr. Cutbill."

"Well, perhaps I might say without vanity, it might be in worse. So much
for that part of the matter; now, as to the noble Viscount himself. I am
speaking as a man of the world to another man of the world, and speaking
in confidence, too. _You_ don't join in that hypocritical cant against
Culduff, because he had once in his life been what they call a man of
gallantry? I mean, Bramleigh, that _you_ don't go in for that outrageous
humbug of spotless virtue, and the rest of it?"

Bramleigh smiled, and as he passed his hand over his mouth to hide a
laugh, the twinkle of his eyes betrayed him.

"I believe I am old enough to know that one must take the world as it
is pleased to present itself," said he, cautiously.

"And not want to think it better or worse than it really is?"

Bramleigh nodded assent.

"Now we understand each other, as I told you the other evening we were
sure to do when we had seen more of each other. Culduff is n't a saint,
but he 's a peer of Parliament; he is n't young, but he has an old
title, and if I 'm not much mistaken, he 'll make a pot of money out
of this mine. Such a man has only to go down into the Black Country or
amongst the mills, to have his choice of some of the best-looking girls
in England, with a quarter of a million of money; isn't that fact?"

"It is pretty l