have said."

"Well: I'm not so sure of that--plenty of chances here, you know.
You'll see him often enough: he lives near, and drops in constantly of
evenings. We settle business matters that won't come into business
hours, in my private snuggery up stairs. In fact, he's one of the
family; treat him as such, and get anything out of him you can--the
more the better, as far as regards that. Ah! Mrs. S., you may stare,
Ma'am; but I say again, he's one of the family; may be, he'll be my
partner some of these days--you'll have to get used to him then,
whether you like it or not."

"One more question: is he married or single?"

"Single, to be sure--a regular old bachelor, if ever there was one
yet."

During the whole time we had been speaking, Mrs. Sherwin had looked at
us with far more earnestness and attention than I had ever seen her
display before. Even her languid faculties seemed susceptible of
active curiosity on the subject of Mr. Mannion--the more so, perhaps,
from her very dislike of him. Margaret had moved her chair into the
background, while her father was talking; and was apparently little
interested in the topic under discussion. In the first interval of
silence, she complained of headache, and asked leave to retire to her
room.

After she left us, I took my departure: for Mr. Sherwin evidently had
nothing more to tell me about his clerk that was worth hearing. On my
way home, Mr. Mannion occupied no small share of my thoughts. The idea