"Of course, it's straight. I should hope, Mr. Goldshed, I have never advised any course that was not so," said Mr. Larkin, loftily. "I don't mean religious--law blesh you--I mean _safe_," said Mr. Goldshed, soothingly. A light pink flush touched the bald forehead of the attorney. "Whatever is right, sir, is safe; and that, I think, can hardly be wrong--I _hope_ not--by which all parties are benefited," said the attorney. "All parties be diddled--except our shelves. I'm thinking of my shelf--and Mr. Levi, here--and, of courshe, of _you_. Very much of you," he added, courteously. Mr. Larkin acknowledged his care by a faint meek bow. "They're swells," repeated Mr. Goldshed. "He saysh they're swelsh," repeated Mr. Levi, whose grave look had something of the air of a bully in it, fixing his dark prominent eyes on Mr. Larkin, and turning his cheek that way a little, also. "There's a danger in handling a swell--in them matters specially." "Suppose theresh a contempt?" said Mr. Goldshed, whose chair grew restive, and required management as he spoke. "He saysh a _contempt_," repeated Mr. Levi, "or shomething worse," and he heightened the emphasis with an oath. "I'll guarantee you for twopence, Mr. Levi; and pray consider me, and do _not_ swear," urged Mr. Larkin. "If you guarantee us, with a penalty," began Mr. Levi, who chose to take him literally. "I said _that_, of _course_, Mr. Levi, by way of illustration, only; no one, of _course_, dreams of guaranteeing another without a proper consideration. I should have hoped you _could_ not have misunderstood me. I don't understand guarantees, it is a business I have never touched. I'm content, I hope, with the emoluments of my profession, and what my landed property gives me. I only mean this--that there _is_ no risk. What do _we_ know of Mr. Dingwell, that is not perfectly above board--perfectly? I challenge the world upon _that_. If anything should happen to fall through, _we_, surely, are not to blame. At the same time if you--looking at it with your experience--apprehend any risk, of course, I couldn't think of allowing you to go on. I can arrange, this evening, and not very far from this house, either." As Mr. Larkin concluded, he made a feint of rising. "Ba-ah!" exclaimed Levi. "You don't think we want to back out of thish transhaction, Mr. Larkin? _no_-o-oh! That's not the trick of thish offishe--is it, gov'nor? He saysh _no_." "No," echoed Goldshed. "No, never--noways! you hear him?" reiterated Mr. Levi. "In for a penny, in for a pound--in for a shilling, in for a thousand. Ba-ah!--No, never."