s his
day's hire beforehand--not otherwise. Allow me to put the transaction
in a business light. We have agreed that I am to be remunerated for my
course of dramatic instruction out of your future earnings on the stage.
Very good. I merely draw on my future prospects; and you, on whom those
prospects depend, are naturally my banker. For mere argument's sake,
estimate my share in your first year's salary at the totally inadequate
value of a hundred pounds. Halve that sum; quarter that sum--"

"How much do you want?" said Magdalen, impatiently.

Captain Wragge was sorely tempted to take the Reward at the top of
the handbills as his basis of calculation. But he felt the vast future
importance of present moderation; and actually wanting some twelve
or thirteen pounds, he merely doubled the amount, and said,
"Five-and-twenty."

Magdalen took the little bag from her bosom, and gave him the money,
with a contemptuous wonder at the number of words which he had wasted on
her for the purpose of cheating on so small a scale. In the old days at
Combe-Raven, five-and-twenty pounds flowed from a stroke of her father's
pen into the hands of any one in the house who chose to ask for it.

Captain Wragge's eyes dwelt on the little bag as the eyes of lovers
dwell on their mistresses. "Happy bag!" he murmured, as she put it back
in her bosom. He rose; dived into a corner of the room; produced
his neat dispatch-box; and solemnly unlocked it on the table between
Magdalen and himself.

"The nature of the man, my dear girl--the nature of the man," he said,
opening one of his plump little books bound in calf and vellum. "A
transaction has taken place between us. I must have it down in black and
white." He opened the book at a blank page, and wrote at the top, in
a fine mercantile hand: _"Miss Vanstone, the Younger: In account with
Horatio Wragge, late o f the Royal Militia. Dr.--Cr. Sept. 24th, 1846.
Dr.: To estimated value of H. Wragge's interest in Miss V.'s first
year's salary--say--200 pounds. Cr. By paid on account, 25 pounds."_
Having completed the entry--and having also shown, by doubling his
original estimate on the Debtor side, that Magdalen's easy compliance
with his demand on her had not been thrown away on him--the captain
pressed his blotting-paper over the wet ink, and put away the book
with the air of a man who had done a virtuous action, and who was above
boasting about it.

"Excuse me for leaving you abruptly," he said.