"Then you will detect plenty of swindles, if you find out one in ten.
Above all, cut down my expenditure to my income. A gentleman of the
nineteenth century, sharpened by trade, can easily do that. Sell Clifford
Hall? I'd rather live on the rabbits and the pigeons and the blackbirds,
and the carp in the pond, and drive to church in the wheelbarrow."

So for a time Walter administered his father's estate, and it was very
instructive. Oh! the petty frauds--the swindles of agency--a term which,
to be sure, is derived from the Latin word "agere," _to do_--the cobweb
of petty commissions--the flat bribes--the smooth hush-money!

Walter soon cut the expenses down to the income, which was ample, and
even paid off the one mortgage that encumbered this noble estate at five
per cent., only four per cent. of which was really fingered by the
mortgagee; the balance went to a go-between, though no go-between was
ever wanted, for any solicitor in the country would have found the money
in a week at four per cent.

The old gentleman was delighted, and engaged his own son as steward at a
liberal salary; and so Walter Clifford found employment and a fair income
without going away from home again.




CHAPTER V.

MARY'S PERIL.