FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105  
106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   >>   >|  
nt. on sixty! Exactly! Scrivens--young Pillin had said! But Crow & Donkin, not Scriven & Coles, were old Heythorp's solicitors. What could that mean, save that the old man wanted to cover the tracks of a secret commission, and had handled the matter through solicitors who did not know the state of his affairs! But why Pillin's solicitors? With this sale just going through, it must look deuced fishy to them too. Was it all a mare's nest, after all? In such circumstances he himself would have taken the matter to a London firm who knew nothing of anybody. Puzzled, therefore, and rather disheartened, feeling too that touch of liver which was wont to follow his old Madeira, he went up to bed and woke his wife to ask her why the dickens they couldn't always have soup like that! Next day he continued to brood over his puzzle, and no fresh light came; but having a matter on which his firm and Scrivens' were in touch, he decided to go over in person, and see if he could surprise something out of them. Feeling, from experience, that any really delicate matter would only be entrusted to the most responsible member of the firm, he had asked to see Scriven himself, and just as he had taken his hat to go, he said casually: "By the way, you do some business for old Mr. Heythorp, don't you?" Scriven, raising his eyebrows a little, murmured: "Er--no," in exactly the tone Mr. Ventnor himself used when he wished to imply that though he didn't as a fact do business, he probably soon would. He knew therefore that the answer was a true one. And non-plussed, he hazarded: "Oh! I thought you did, in regard to a Mrs. Larne." This time he had certainly drawn blood of sorts, for down came Scriven's eyebrows, and he said: "Mrs. Larne--we know a Mrs. Larne, but not in that connection. Why?" "Oh! Young Pillin told me--" "Young Pillin? Why, it's his---!" A little pause, and then: "Old Mr. Heythorp's solicitors are Crow & Donkin, I believe." Mr. Ventnor held out his hand. "Yes, yes," he said; "goodbye. Glad to have got that matter settled up," and out he went, and down the street, important, smiling. By George! He had got it! "It's his father"--Scriven had been going to say. What a plant! Exactly! Oh! neat! Old Pillin had made the settlement direct; and the solicitors were in the dark; that disposed of his difficulty about them. No money had passed between old Pillin and old Heythorp not a penny. Oh! neat! But not neat enough for Cha
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105  
106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Pillin

 

matter

 
solicitors
 

Scriven

 

Heythorp

 

Donkin

 

eyebrows

 

business

 

Ventnor

 
Scrivens

Exactly

 
answer
 
goodbye
 
wished
 
difficulty
 

settlement

 

disposed

 

direct

 

murmured

 

raising


plussed

 

important

 

passed

 

connection

 

smiling

 

settled

 

street

 

thought

 
hazarded
 

regard


father

 

George

 

circumstances

 

London

 
follow
 
Madeira
 

feeling

 
Puzzled
 
disheartened
 

deuced


wanted
 
tracks
 

secret

 

affairs

 

commission

 

handled

 

delicate

 

experience

 

surprise

 

Feeling