parlance, he is
all correct but between men of honor such strictness is
downright absurdity and, as Dillhurst says, "something
more." Now, my dear boy, you must write to him and at once,
too for I 'm in a bad book about "Chanticleer" who is to
win, it seems, after all and say that he is acting in direct
opposition to your wishes, as of course he is; that the
money must be paid without more chaffing. The delay has
already put me to great inconvenience, and I know how you
will be provoked at his obstinacy. You 've heard, I suppose,
that Brentwood is going to marry Lydia Vaughan. She has
thirty thousand pounds, which is exactly what Jack lost last
winter. Crosbie says he ought to "run away from her after
the start as he carries no weight:" which is somewhat of
my own opinion. What any man has to do with a wife nowadays,
with the funds at eighty-two, and a dark horse first
favorite for the Oaks, is more than I know. Doncaster has
levanted, and the Red-House folk will smart for it. He would
back Hayes's lot, and there 's nothing can ever set him
right again. By the way, Orson hints that if I give him a
release, or something of that sort, with respect to the
bills, he 'd pay the cash; but this is only a dodge to make
a case for lawyers' parchments, stamps, and so forth; so I
won't stand it. Your writing to him will do the whole thing
at once. What a jolly world it would be, old fellow, if the
whole race of Orsons were carried off by the cholera, or
anything akin! They are the greatest enemies to human peace
in existence.

Believe me, yours most faithfully,

NORWOOD.

P. S. I half fancy Baden is empty by this; but if you chance
upon a little fellow Heaven knows to whom he belongs, or
whence he comes, called Albert Jekyl, will you tell him that
I 'll forward the twenty pounds whenever I win the Oaks, or
marry Miss Home Greville, or any other similar piece of good
fortune. When he lent me the cash, I don't believe he was
the owner of as much more in the world; but it suited him to
have a viscount in his debt a devilish bad investment, if he
knew but all. The chances, therefore, are that he has
foundered long ago, and you will be spared the trouble of
the explanation; but if he survive, say something
apologetic, for lett