"There's where it is. To tell you the truth, Arnold, I am getting tired of work; don't seem so much up to it as I was. Whoever comes in will have to do more even than you have done, and of course will expect to take at least a half-share of the yearly profits. I should not put by much then: I could not alter my style of living, you know, or put down the carriages and horses, or anything of that sort: and I must save for poor Bertie. A sum of three thousand pounds means three thousand to me." "Are the arrangements fully made?" asked Dr. Knox. "Yes. Mr. Shuttleworth came down to Lefford yesterday, and has been going into the books with me this morning. And, by the way, Arnold, I hope you will meet him here at dinner to-night. I should not a bit wonder, either, but he might tell you of some opening for yourself: he seems to know most of the chief medical men in London. He is selling a good practice of his own. It is his health that obliges him to come to the country." "I hope you will suit one another," said Dr. Knox; for he knew that it was not every one who could get on with fidgety old Tamlyn. "We are to give it a six months' trial," said Tamlyn. "He would not bind himself without that. At the end of the six months, if both parties are not satisfied, we cancel the agreement: he withdraws his money, and I am at liberty to take a fresh partner. For that half-year's services he will receive his half-share of profits: which of course is only fair. You see I tell you all, Arnold." Dr. Knox dined with them, and found the new man a very pleasant fellow, but quite as old as Tamlyn. He could not help wondering how he would relish the parish work, and said so in a whisper to Mr. Tamlyn while Shuttleworth was talking to Bertie. "Oh, he thinks it will be exercise for him," replied the surgeon. "And Dockett will be coming on, you know." It was a dark night, the beginning of November, wet and splashy. Mrs. Knox had a soirée at Rose Villa; and when the doctor reached home he met the company coming forth with cloaks and lanterns and clogs. "Oh, it's you, Arnold, is it!" cried Mrs. Knox. "Could you not have come home for my evening? Two of the whist-tables had to play dummy: we had some disappointments." "I stayed to dine with Mr. Tamlyn," said Arnold. Sitting together over the fire, he and she alone, Mrs. Knox asked him whether he would not give her a hundred pounds a-year for his board, instead of seventy-five. Which was uncommonly cool, considering what he paid for her besides in housekeeping bills. Upon which, Arnold told her he should not be with her beyond the close of the year: he was going to leave Lefford. For a minute, it struck her dumb. "Good Heavens, Arnold, how am I to keep the house on without your help? I must say you have no consideration. Leave Lefford!" "Mr. Tamlyn has given me notice," replied Arnold. "He is taking a partner." "But--I just ask you--how am I to pay my way?"