"What did I dismiss him for?--Haven't I eyes and ears?--First and foremost, he's the most odious-mannered fellow I ever came near--and--he hadn't a shirt to his back when I first took him--the ungrateful wretch!--Sir, it's at any rate not against the law, I suppose, to _hate_ a man;--and if it isn't, how I HATE Titmouse!" "Mr. Tag-rag"--said Gammon, lowering his voice, and looking very earnestly at his companion--"can I say a word to you in confidence--the strictest confidence?" "What's it about, sir?" inquired Tag-rag, somewhat apprehensively. "I dare say you may have felt, perhaps, rather surprised at the interest which I--in fact our office, the office of Quirk, Gammon, and Snap, in Saffron Hill--appear to have taken in Mr. Titmouse." "Why, sir, it's _your_ look-out to see how you're to be paid for what you're doing--and I dare say lawyers generally keep a pretty sharp look-out in that direction!" Gammon smiled, and continued--"It may, perhaps, a little surprise you, Mr. Tag-rag, to hear that your present (ought I to say, your _late_?) shopman, Mr. Tittlebat Titmouse, is at this moment probably the very luckiest man--and one among the richest, too--in this kingdom." "Why--you don't mean to say he's drawn a prize in the lottery?"--exclaimed Tag-rag, pricking up his ears, and manifestly changing color. "Pho! my dear sir, _that_ is a mere bagatelle compared with the good fortune which has just fallen to his lot. I solemnly assure you, that I believe it will very shortly turn out that he is at this moment the undoubted owner of an estate worth at least ten thousand a-year, besides a vast accumulation of ready money!" "Ten thousand a-year, sir!--My Titmouse!--Tittlebat Titmouse!--Ten thousand a-year! it's quite impossible!" faltered Tag-rag, after a pause, having gone as pale as death. "I have as little doubt of the fact, however, sir, as I have that you yesterday turned him out of doors, Mr. Tag-rag!" "But"--said Mr. Tag-rag, in a low tone--"who could have dreamed it?--How was--_really_, Mr. Gammon!--how _was_ I to know it?" "That's the fact, however," said Gammon, shrugging his shoulders. Tag-rag wriggled about in his chair, put his hands in and out of his pockets, scratched his head, and continued staring open-mouthed at the bearer of such astounding intelligence. "Perhaps, however, all this is meant as a joke, sir,"--said he--"And if so--it's--it's--a very"---- "It's one of his solicitors who were fortunate enough to make the discovery, that tells you, sir," interrupted Gammon, calmly. "I repeat what I have already told you, Mr. Tag-rag, that an estate of ten thousand a-year is the very least"---- "Why, that's two hundred thousand pounds, sir!"--exclaimed Tag-rag, with an awe-struck air. "At the very least"---- "Lord, Mr. Gammon!--Excuse me, sir, but how _did_ you find it out?" "Mere accident--a mere accidental discovery, sir, in the course of other professional inquiries!" "And does Mr. Titmouse know it?"