He went out of his office and across into Market Street, where the Atlas Building, a modern range of offices and chambers, towered above the older structures at its foot. In the entrance hall a man was gilding the name of a new tenant on the address board--that name was Pratt's, and Eldrick presently found himself ascending in the lift to Pratt's quarters on the fifth floor. Within five minutes of leaving Collingwood and Robson, he was closeted with Pratt in a well-furnished and appointed little office of two rooms, the inner one of which was almost luxurious in its fittings. And Pratt himself looked extremely well satisfied, and confident--and quite at his ease. He wheeled forward an easy chair for his visitor, and pushed a box of cigarettes towards him. "Glad to see you, Mr. Eldrick," he said, with a cordial politeness which suggested, however, somehow, that he and the solicitor were no longer master and servant. "How do you like my little place of business?" "You're making a comfortable nest of it, anyhow, Pratt," answered Eldrick, looking round. "And--what sort of business are you going to do, pray?" "Agency," replied Pratt, promptly. "It struck me some little time ago that a smart man,--like myself, eh?--could do well here in Barford as an agent in a new sort of fashion--attending to things for people who aren't fitted or inclined to do 'em for themselves--or are rich enough to employ somebody to look after their affairs. Of course, that Normandale stewardship dropped out when young Harper died, and I don't suppose the notion 'll be revived now that his sister's come in. But I've got one good job to go on with---Mrs. Mallathorpe's given me her affairs to look after." Eldrick took one of the cigarettes and lighted it--as a sign of his peaceable and amicable intentions. "Pratt!" he said. "That's just what I've come to see you about. Unofficially, mind--in quite a friendly way. It's like this"; and he went on to tell Pratt of what had just occurred at his own office. "So--there you are," he concluded. "I'm saying nothing, you know, it's no affair of mine--but if these people begin to say that you've used any undue influence----"