"Nay, my dear sir!" said Gammon, with a deferential and deprecating smile, "you give me credit for an acuteness I feel I do not possess! If, indeed, I had not had _your_ sagacity to rely upon, ever since I have had the honor of being connected with you in business---- ah, Mr. Quirk, you know you lead--I follow"---- "Gammon, Gammon!" interrupted Quirk, with an uncomfortable, but still a mollified air, "Come--your name's _Oily_"---- "In moments like these, Mr. Quirk, I say nothing that I do not feel," interrupted Gammon, gravely, putting to his nose the least modicum of snuff which he could take with the tip of his finger out of the huge box of Mr. Quirk, who, just then, was thrusting immense pinches, every half minute, up his nostrils. "It will cost a great deal of money to find that same tombstone, Gammon!" said Quirk, in almost a whisper, and paused, looking intently at Gammon. "I think this is a different kind of snuff from that which you usually take, Mr. Quirk, isn't it?" inquired Gammon, as he inserted the tips of his fingers a second time into the mechanically proffered box of Mr. Quirk. "The same--the same," replied Quirk, hastily. "You are a man better fitted for serious emergencies, Mr. Quirk, than any man I ever came near," said Gammon, deferentially; "I perceive that you have hit the nail on the head, as indeed you _always_ do!" "Tut! Stuff, Gammon; you're every bit as good a hand as I am!" replied Quirk, with an evident mixture of pleasure and embarrassment. Gammon smiled, shook his head, and shrugged his shoulders. "'Tis that practical sagacity of yours, Mr. Quirk," said Gammon--"you know it as well as I can tell you--that has raised you to your present professional eminence!" He paused, and looked very sincerely at his senior partner. "Well, I must own I think I _do_ know a trick or two," quoth Quirk, with a sort of _grunt_ of gratification. "Ay, and further, there are _some_ clever men who never can keep their own counsel; but are like a hen that has just laid an egg, and directly she has risen, goes foolishly cackling about everywhere, and then her egg is taken away; but _you_"---- "Ha, ha!" laughed Quirk; "that's _devilish_ good, Gammon!--Capital! Gad, I think I see the hen! Ha, ha!" "Ha, ha!" echoed Gammon, gently. "But to be serious, Mr. Quirk; what I was going to say was, that I thoroughly appreciate your admirable caution in not confiding to any one--no, not even to me--the exact means by which you intend to extricate us from our present dilemma." Here Quirk got very fidgety, and twirled his watch-key violently. "Hem! But--hem! Ay--a--a," he grunted, looking with an uneasy air at his calm astute companion; "I didn't mean so much as all _that_, either, Gammon; for two heads, in my opinion, are better than one. You _must_ own that, Gammon!" said he, not at all relishing the heavy burden of responsibility which he felt that Gammon was about to devolve upon his (Quirk's) shoulders exclusively.