qual to a retirement'."

"Absurdity!" said Dunn, angrily. "I never have acknowledged--I never
will acknowledge--any such accountability to the world."

"They bring us 'to book' whether we will or not," said Hankes, sturdily.

Dunn started at the words, and turned away to hide his face; and well
was it he did so, for it was pale as ashes, even to the lips, which were
actually livid.

"You may expect me by Sunday morning, Hankes,"--he spoke without turning
round,--"and let me have the balance-sheet of the Ossory Bank to look
over. We must make no more advances to the gentry down there; we must
restrict our discounts."

"Impossible, sir, impossible! There must be no discontent--for the
present, at least," said Hankes; and his voice sunk to a whisper.

Dunn wheeled round till he stood full before him, and thus they remained
for several seconds, each staring steadfastly at the other.

"You don't mean to say, Hankes--" He stopped.

"I do, sir," said the other, slowly, "and I say it advisedly."

"Then there must be some gross mismanagement, sir," said Dunn,
haughtily. "This must be looked to! Except that loan of forty-seven
thousand pounds to Lord Lacking-ton, secured by mortgage on the estate
it went to purchase, with what has this Bank supplied us?"

"Remember, sir," whispered Hankes, cautiously glancing around the room
as he spoke, "the loan to the Viscount was advanced by ourselves at six
per cent, and the estate was bought in under your own name; so that, in
fact, it is to us the Bank have to look as their security."

"And am I not sufficient for such an amount, Mr. Hankes?" said he,
sneeringly.

"I trust you are, sir, and for ten times the sum. Time is everything
in these affairs. The ship that would float over the bar at high water
would stick fast at half-flood."

"The 'Time' I am anxious for is a very different one," said Dunn,
reflectively. "It is the time when I shall no longer be harassed with
these anxieties. Life is not worth the name when it excludes the thought
of all enjoyment."

"Business is business, sir," said Mr. Hankes, with all the solemnity
with which such men deliver platitudes as wisdom.

"Call it slavery, and you 'll be nearer the mark," broke in Dunn. "For
what or for whom, let me ask you, do I undergo all this laborious toil?
For a world that at the first check or stumble will overwhelm me with
slanders. Let me but afford them a pretext, and they will debit me with
every disaster