"No such thing, love!" and the fascinating Mrs. B. slid her arm round her helpmate's neck, and began to unfold her purpose. "You know," said she, "how I was disappointed in my just expectations at the death of Sir Toby. I had every reason to expect that the bulk of his property, which goes to his nephew, would have been mine. That young man is as yet unacquainted with the fact, and by the assistance of Smyrk, whom we might get over, he might remain so, and for a period sufficiently long for our purpose. Smyrk may manage that, and also to keep the world in ignorance of the matter. At present we have the _reputation_ of being the sole owners of forty thousand pounds." "Nonsense, Mrs. B.! What's in a name?" muttered Richie. "I'll tell you what's in it. There is, in the first place, the credit derived from the reputation of that sum,--the splendour, the elegance, the comfort, the world's good opinion, the world's----" "Laugh!" exclaimed Barter, with deriding bitterness, as he sneered at the chimera of his helpmate. "I'm a ruined man! I'm a beggar!--a fool!" "You may be all three together, Mr. Barter, if you choose; but that would be too extravagant. Let us first settle this trifle of Smyrk's, whose bare whisper, you know, in the city, will settle the affair for us; and with your present savings, love,--isn't it four thousand pounds?--and the name of forty thousand pounds----" "What's in a name?" sighed the desponding Richie; but, brightening at the prospect conjured up before him, he appeared to acquiesce, and the bill of Peter Smyrk was instantly paid. Mrs. B's drafts on futurity, and on Richie's four thousand pounds, began to be pretty considerable; and all the _good debts_, which, as sleeping partner in the firm, she brought with her, were paid. How often did he revert to his former unambitious and peaceful life when freed from any attachments either of love or law,--when, with a clear conscience, and a well-brushed coat, he sat perched on the high stool at his desk in ---- Alley, where his horizon was bounded by cotton-bags and wool-sacks, and through a vista of tea-chests, as they were piled in pyramidal precision, before his considerate eyes! Thoughts of better days and better things came over him as he flung his last sovereign in payment for some pretty trumpery of his very dear Mrs. B. and cried, "I might have prevented all this,--_I should_--_but did not_!"