Greshams. Cart-ropes would not hold her,
even though the duke held them; which he did, with all the
strength of his ducal hands. She would go to meet some
doctor of theirs, and so I was put off for that time; but
I think that the matter stands in a good train.

Do not lose a post in sending back the bill accepted, as
Tozer may annoy you--nay, undoubtedly will, if the matter
be not in his hand, duly signed by both of us, the day
after to-morrow. He is an ungrateful brute; he has lived
on me for these eight years, and would not let me off a
single squeeze now to save my life. But I am specially
anxious to save you from the annoyance and cost of
lawyers' letters; and if delayed, it might get into the
papers. Put it under cover to me, at No. 7, Duke Street,
St. James's. I shall be in town by that time.

Good-bye, old fellow. That was a decent brush we had the
other day from Cobbold's Ashes. I wish I could get that
brown horse from you. I would not mind going to a hundred
and thirty.

Yours ever,

N. SOWERBY.

When Mark had read it through he looked down on his table to see
whether the old bill had fallen from the letter; but no, there was
no enclosure, and had been no enclosure but the new bill. And then
he read the letter through again, and found that there was no word
about the old bill--not a syllable, at least, as to its whereabouts.
Sowerby did not even say that it would remain in his own hands. Mark
did not in truth know much about such things. It might be that the
very fact of his signing this second document would render that first
document null and void; and from Sowerby's silence on the subject, it
might be argued that this was so well known to be the case, that he
had not thought of explaining it. But yet Mark could not see how this
should be so. But what was he to do? That threat of cost and lawyers,
and specially of the newspapers, did have its effect upon him--as
no doubt it was intended to do. And then he was utterly dumbfounded
by Sowerby's impudence in drawing on him for L500 instead of L400,
"covering," as Sowerby so good-humouredly said, "sundry little
outstanding trifles."

But at last he did sign the bill, and sent it off, as Sowerby had
directed. What else was he to do? Fool that he was. A man always can
do right, even though he has done wrong before. But that previous
wrong adds so much difficulty to the path--a difficulty which