"Oh, yes, ma'am. It wouldn't be my duty to stop any payments till I get orders. Mr. Bertram never forgets anything, ma'am. If he'd meant me to stop it, he wouldn't have forgot to say so." "Oh, very well, Mr. Pritchett;" and Miss Baker was going away. "But, one word, if you please, ma'am. I don't detain you, ma'am, do I?" and you might have guessed by Pritchett's voice that he was quite willing to let her go if she wished, even though his own death on the spot might be the instant result. "Oh dear, no, Mr. Pritchett," said Miss Baker. "We all see how things have gone, ma'am, now;--about Miss Caroline, I mean." "Yes, she is Lady Harcourt now." "Oh, yes, I know that, ma'am," and Mr. Pritchett here sank to the lowest bathos of misery. "I know she's Lady Harcourt very well. I didn't mean her ladyship any disrespect." "Oh dear, no, of course not, Mr. Pritchett. Who would think such a thing of you, who's known her from a baby?" "Yes, I have know'd her from a babby, ma'am. That's just it; and I've know'd you from amost a babby too, ma'am." "That was a very long time ago, Mr. Pritchett." "Yes, it is some years now, certainly, Miss Baker. I'm not so young as I was; I know that." Mr. Pritchett's voice at this juncture would have softened the heart of any stone that had one. "But this is what it is, ma'am; you're going to live with the old gentleman now." "Yes, I believe I am." "Well, now; about Mr. George, ma'am." "Mr. George!" "Yes, Mr. George, Miss Baker. It ain't of course for me to say anything of what goes on between young ladies and young gentlemen. I don't know anything about it, and never did; and I don't suppose I never shall now. But they two was to have been one, and now they're two." Mr. Pritchett could not get on any further without pausing for breath. "The match was broken off, you know." "It was broke off. I say nothing about that, nor about them who did it. I know nothing, and therefore I say nothing; but this I do say: that it will be very hard--very hard, and very cruel if so that the old gentleman is set against Mr. George because Sir Henry Harcourt has got a handle to his name for himself." The conference ended in a promise on Miss Baker's part that she, at least, would say nothing against Mr. George; but with an assurance, also, that it was impossible for her to say anything in his favour. "You may be sure of this, Mr. Pritchett, that my uncle will never consult me about his money." "He'll never consult any human being, ma'am. He wouldn't consult Solomon if Solomon were to go to Hadley o' purpose. But you might slip in a word that Mr. George was not in fault; mightn't you, ma'am?" Miss Baker reiterated her promise that she would not at any rate say anything evil of George Bertram. "He is such a foolish young man, ma'am; so like a baby about money. It's that's why I feel for him, because he is so foolish." And then Miss Baker prosecuted her journey, and reached Littlebath in safety.