"I left you to _refuse_ it," said Mr. Asherill emphatically. "I did not, for I could not, send back a message to Forde telling him to do his dirty work for himself, or get some one else to do it. I wanted to be rid, civilly, of the business, and I thought you would understand that." "I certainly did not understand it," Mr. Swanland replied. "I thought you wished that estate to be wound up in our office, though you did not care, for some reason or other, to be brought forward prominently in it yourself. If I have done wrong, I am sorry for it. All I can say is, I did wrong with the best intentions." And after this ample apology and vindication, Mr. Swanland thrust both hands deep in his pockets, and turned once more to the dripping roofs and twisted chimneys. "Well, well, it cannot be helped now," said Mr. Asherill, in a conciliatory tone; "another time I will be more explicit; only you know, you must know, how resolutely I have always refused to have anything to do with a transaction upon which it seems a blessing cannot rest." "Why cannot a blessing rest on this affair," interrupted Mr. Swanland impatiently. "Because it is not straightforward. What have these men to do with the matter. They are not petitioning creditors; they are not, according to their own showing, pressing creditors. They want the man to go on, and he or his family want to stop. What is the English of it all? Why does not his solicitor appear?" "I have a letter from him," said Mr. Swanland, lifting a sheet of note paper off the table and handing it to his partner. Mr. Asherill looked first at the signature. "Michael Benning," he read, and looked at Mr. Swanland in blank consternation. "Why, he is solicitor to the General Chemical Company." "No; surely not?" "Surely yes. I told you there was something underneath all this." "I do not see that exactly. Why should he not be Mr. Mortomley's solicitor too?" "Because I happen to know his solicitor. As honest a man as ever breathed; and that is more than Michael Benning could be accused of." "Perhaps Mr. Mortomley has quarrelled with his honest solicitor," suggested Mr. Swanland; a sneer lurking in his tone. "Travellers on the road to ruin are very apt to quarrel with their best friends. However, let that be as it may, I have nothing to do with creditor or debtor, save to hold the scales even between them. If we do our work conscientiously and impartially, I cannot see what it matters to us how much finessing there may be on the part of others." "Unless we are placed in a false position in consequence," observed Mr. Asherill. "I will take care of that," said the junior, rash and over-confident as even middle-aged youth is sometimes prone to be. "Another thing," commenced Mr. Asherill. "You know how resolutely I always set my face against having to do anything with the affairs of gentlemen." "I am aware of your prejudices," was the reply; "we have lost a considerable amount of valuable business in consequence."