Hal then breathed a few words into the ear of Nutty to the effect that, though he was an officer of the law, engaged in one of its most unpleasant duties, it was quite possible for him to do his “spiriting gently,” but that if he should entertain a contrary opinion, and offer, or attempt to offer, to carry out in a spirit of hostility, arrogance, and coarseness, the part he had to perform, he might prepare himself for a reckoning, the settlement of which would not be in his favour. Nutty was too old a hand at his craft not to know that it was best to be civil, when as he, in rather free terms, said--“There was summat hanging to it;” or to hesitate to be a brute when the utter poverty of the poor creatures whose goods were seized rendered even his possession money a question of doubt. In the present case, he very sagaciously saw that if he acted in an apparently compassionate and considerate spirit to the daughter of old Wilton, and took care to let his behaviour come to the ears of young Vivian, his purse would be rendered all the heavier by it; but if he adopted an abrupt harshness of manner, terrified her, and permitted her to save no little trinket, upon which she set some priceless personal value, he might get a horse-whipping, inflicted with no light or unwilling hand. He took; therefore, the suggestion of Vivian in good part, winked his eyes significantly, jerked his thumb over his left shoulder, placed his thumb to his nose, fluttered his fingers, and otherwise bewildered the apprentice, who could only presume that these evolutions meant that his wishes should be complied with. He, therefore, thought it incumbent upon him, not only to seem to comprehend them, but to so far imitate them, by slapping his pocket, tapping the palm of his hand with one finger, and pointing to Nutty, so as to give that grubby individual to understand that if he behaved kindly, there _would_ be something “hanging to it.” Nutty smiled complacently, bent the most philanthropic and benevolent of glances upon Flora, nodded his head, and murmured, with a slight grin-- “I knows all about it.” Thus assured, Harry Vivian waved his hand towards Flora. “Keep up your spirits!” he cried; “all will go right yet.” Then, with an effort, he quitted the room, ran lightly down the stairs, and was soon in his uncle’s private room, engaged with him in earnest conversation. In the meantime, Lotte busied herself at the sacrifice of at least a dozen cap fronts, or rather half a dozen hours, to be replaced by six taken out of those devoted by her during the week to sleep, in conferring with Flora as to the course she would have to pursue when all the furniture was swept away, and she was left penniless and destitute. “Have you no relations in London?” inquired Lotte; “because if you have only one or two, I will pop on my bonnet and mantle, and run to them very quickly. Let them be who they may, they would surely afford you some help.”