Speaking of his new prospects to Alick, Mr. Ormson, an utterly inoffensive individual, remarked, he hoped the lad “would not let himself be led away by Mr. Black, or made dissatisfied with his small salary, for, whatever some people might imagine, fortunes were not to be picked up out of the gutter; at least, not with clean hands,” added Mr. Ormson, after a pause;—while riding side by side with Lord Kemms along Berrie Down Lane, Mr. Compton Raidsford, beholding Arthur Dudley and Mr. Black walking together up and down one of the broad green meadows, shaded by a pleasant hedgerow, remarked to his companion:— “I hope Dudley won’t suffer that fellow to drag him into any of his rotten companies. If he do, Berrie Down Hollow will soon be in the market.” “In which case I shall buy it,” said his lordship. “I do not think you will, excepting at something considerably beyond its value, for I have set my heart upon it too,” observed Mr. Raidsford; whereupon the pair laughed, and Lord Kemms, reverting to Mr. Black, informed his companion “he had been asking him to allow his name to appear on the Direction.” “Which Direction?” inquired Mr. Raidsford. “He is floating, or rather trying to float, several companies. For which of them does he solicit the honour of Lord Kemms’ name?” “For the ‘Protector Bread and Flour Company,’” answered his lordship. “Oh!” exclaimed Mr. Raidsford. Then, after a moment’s silence, he asked, “And what terms does he offer? I suppose there is no secret about the matter?” “None that I am aware of,” was the reply; “at least, he made no mention of secrecy to me. He offered two hundred paid-up shares, and he showed me names he had got, that, I confess, made me hesitate about refusing. In fact, I meant to ask your advice. You know, every one goes in for these kind of things now-a-days, and some people must make money out of them.” “Yes, but not people who are associated with Mr. Black,” replied Compton Raidsford. “And yet he has got the name of one man who is considered unusually wary in his investments, Mr. Allan Stewart.” “Allan Stewart,” repeated Mr. Raidsford; “now you do surprise me.” And he rode on for a while, turning the matter over in his mind. “And he expects to get Douglas Croft.” “The deuce he does!” “So you see it is all in the family, at least in one branch of it,” continued his lordship. “Ay, and if I were Lord Kemms, it might stay in one branch of it for me,” was the quick reply. “But still money is made out of these kind of things,” said Lord Kemms, harking back to the point from which he had started. “And lost,” added Mr. Raidsford, quietly. “But I could not lose money.” “No, but you might be the cause of making others lose it,” Mr. Raidsford observed. “I did not think of that,” said Lord Kemms.