Mr. Thacker brought down his fist upon the table with a bang. Then, seeing Mr. Yeldham was not particularly moved, he went on. "I was not to be beaten at the first go off; so, after she had spoken, I asked her, if she would not go into the matter herself, whether she would let me have the money--of course on unexceptionable security. She refused point-blank; and when pressed to give her reasons, said she did not want to go into any more speculations. I never saw a woman so altered in my life. I don't know what the devil has come over her--gone mad on her money, I suppose. I don't know what induced me to say it,--I can generally manage to take these things quietly enough,--but I was a little bit annoyed, I suppose; but, at all events, I did say, 'This is not quite the manner in which you answered me when I proposed to you to take that mortgage on Middlemeads, Mrs. Frere.' The words were hardly out of my mouth when she turned round on me as quick as lightning, and said, 'You think of nothing but the interest on your money. I had another motive in that investment.' 'And that was--?' I asked. 'To serve my--my own purposes,' she replied. 'I had a long-standing account to settle with Robert Streightley, and that was the method I chose of doing it.' You would not have liked the expression of my lady's face when she said this. For the first time in her life she seemed to drop the mask. I saw her eyes glowing, her lips livid; and then I felt certain of what I had always suspected." "And that was--?" "That when she was down on her luck, and intimate with his people, she had really intended to make Robert Streightley marry her; and that when she found he did not care for her, and eventually married Miss Guyon, she determined to be revenged on them both." "Certainly, Mr. Thacker, your boast of being able to tell strange things is fulfilled in the present instance. I had no idea of this." "How should you have? But it's fact, nevertheless; take my word for it. I suppose I let on by the expression of my face--for she is as downy as a cat--that I had spotted her game; for she tried in every possible way to wriggle out of what she had said. 'Middlemeads was such a good investment.' 'Money wasn't so scarce then.' 'In these times one ought to be particularly careful,' &c. &c. But I wasn't to be put off with any such humbug as that; I just asked her plainly once more, whether she would make the advances I suggested, on the security I offered; and when she again decidedly refused, I took up my hat and wished her good morning. And I took my oath, as I crossed her hall-mat, that I'd go out of my way to do her a bad turn; and, as luck would have it, now I'm able to do it without going out of my way." "That is splendid! we're really coming to it!"