United States or Monaco ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
His well-brushed hat stood ready to his touch below, and when he entered the cab he was apparently as well dressed a gentleman as when about three hours after noon he may be seen with slow and easy step entering the halls of the Treasury chambers. But ah! alas, he was all too late. He came but to see the ruin which Undy's defection had brought about.
'I have no capital now at my disposal, said he; 'and I doubt whether I should be doing right to lay out a ward's money in such a manner. A slight smile came over Undy's gay unconcerned features; it was very slight, but nevertheless it was very eloquent and very offensive also. Alaric understood it well; it made him hate the owner of it, but it made him hate himself still more.
Of Undy's wife Alaric saw nothing and heard little, but it suited Undy to make use of his sister-in- law's house, and it suited Alaric to be intimate with Undy's sister-in-law. Moreover, had not Clementina Golightly L20,000, and was she not a 'doosed fine girl? This was nothing to Alaric now, and might not be considered to be much to Undy.
'Yes and sometimes sell them. Where Mr. Chaffanbrass had got his exact information, we cannot say; but very exact information he had acquired respecting Undy's little transactions.
He first went into the city, as men always do when they want money; though in what portion of the city they find it, has never come to the author's knowledge. Charley Tudor, to be sure, did get L5 by going to the 'Banks of Jordan; but the supply likely to be derived from such a fountain as that would hardly be sufficient for Undy's wants.
Then he had also to decide whether it would better suit his purpose to sell out at once and pay up every shilling that he could, or whether he would hold on, and hope that Undy's predictions would be fulfilled, and that the bridge shares would go on rising till they would sell for all that was required of him.
'You refuse, then? said Alaric, still keeping hold of Undy's coat. 'Come, take your hand off, said Undy. 'You will make me think your head is wrong as well as your stomach, if you go on like this. Take your hand off and listen to me. I will then explain to you why I cannot do what you would have me. Take your hand away, I say; do you not see that people are looking at us.
At the Weights and Measures Alaric's hours of business had been from ten to five. In Undy's office they continued from one noon till the next, incessantly; even in his dreams he was working in the share market. On his return to town Alaric found a letter from Captain Cuttwater, pressing very urgently for the repayment of his money.
In spite of his commissionership and coming parliamentary honours, his solitary moments were seldom very happy. It was at his club, when living with Undy and Undy's peers, that he was best able to throw off his cares and enjoy himself. But even then, high as he was mounted on his fast-trotting horse, black Care would sit behind him, ever mounted on the same steed.
A petition with regard to the Tillietudlem burghs was almost as much a matter of course as a contest; at any rate the threat of a petition was so. Undy, however, had lived through this before, and did not fear but that he might do so again. Threatened folks live long; parliamentary petitions are very costly, and Undy's adversaries were, if possible, even in more need of money than himself.
Word Of The Day