There was a twinkle in Tom’s eyes but he said nothing. Mr. Culpepper might have been still further surprised had he known that the six thousand pounds was Tom’s own money, and that, although the mortgage was made out in another name, it was to Tom alone that he was indebted. “Have you made up your mind as to the price you intend to ask, sir?” “No, not yet. In fact, it was partly to consult you on that point that I sent for you.” “Somewhere about nine thousand pounds, sir, I should think, would be a fair price.” The Squire shook his head. “They will never give anything like so much as that.” “I think they will, sir, if the affair is judiciously managed. How can they refuse in the face of a mortgage for six thousand pounds?” “There’s something in that, certainly.” “Then there are the villas—yet unbuilt it is true—but the plans of which are already drawn, and the foundations of some of which are already laid. You will require to be liberally remunerated for your disappointment and outlay in respect of them.” “I see it all now. Splendid idea that of the villas.” “Considering the matter in all its bearings, nine thousand pounds may be regarded as a very moderate sum.” “I won’t ask a penny less.” “With it you will be able to clear off both the mortgage and the loan of two thousand, and will then have a thousand left for your expenses in connection with the villas.” The Squire rubbed his hands. “I wish all my speculations had turned out as successful as this one,” he said. “This one I owe to you, Bristow. You have done me a service that I can never forget.” Tom rose to go. “Mrs. McDermott quite well, sir?” he said, with the most innocent air in the world. “If the way she eats and drinks is anything to go by, she was never better in her life. But if you take her own account, she’s never well—a confirmed invalid she calls herself. I’ve no patience with the woman, though she is my sister. A day’s hard scrubbing at the wash-tub every week would do her a world of good. If she would only pack up her trunks and go, how thankful I should be!” “If you wish her to shorten her visit at Pincote, I think you might easily persuade her to do so.” “I’d give something to find out how. No, no, Bristow, you may depend that she’s a fixture here for three or four months to come. She knows—no woman alive better—when she’s in comfortable quarters.” “If I had your sanction to do so, sir, I think that I could induce her to hasten her departure from Pincote.” The Squire rubbed his nose thoughtfully. “You are a queer fellow, Bristow,” he said, “and you have done some strange things, but to induce my sister to leave Pincote before she’s ready to go will cap all that you’ve done yet.” “I cannot of course induce her to leave Pincote till she is willing to go, but after a little quiet talk with me, it is possible that she may be willing, and even anxious, to get away as quickly as possible.”