To act remembrancer was not very easy, however, as his habitual silence cut off a great deal of even that small gossip which usually takes place between a man and his valet-de-chambre; but Harding was not a person to be foiled, and what he could not do cunningly he always did boldly. It was on the second night, then, of their stay at the rectory, that, while undressing his master, he began, after two or three preliminary grunts, "I wish to ask your permission, sir,--if you are going to send me to London--" "Send you to London!" exclaimed Burrel; "I am not going to send you to London. What put such a thing into your head?" "Oh, I beg pardon, sir; I did not mean to offend!" replied Harding. "But when you first sent me to Mr. Tims at Ryebury, he asked me a great many questions about you, and told me that you were going to pay off the incumbrances upon Sir Sidney Delaware's estate." "Which, I suppose, you have been good enough to spread throughout the village?" said Burrel, not a little angry. "I have never opened my mouth upon the subject, sir, to a living creature--upon my honor!" replied the man, with a solemnity of asseveration that was very suspicious. "And pray, how is all this connected with your going to London, Harding?" demanded his master. "Why, only, sir, as I hear the money is to be paid in three days, and you did not speak of going up yourself, I thought you might be going to send me for the sum," was the cool and self-complacent reply of the worthy domestic. "To be paid in three days!" exclaimed Burrel. "There must be some mistake in that, surely?" "Oh, no, sir, I can assure you!" replied the man, earnestly. "The last time I was up at the Park, when I brought the horses to come over here, I heard the captain saying so to Miss Delaware--and he said, that he hoped that Tims would have the money ready, or it would be a sad affair." "Indeed!" said Burrel; "this must be looked to. But you misunderstand your situation, Harding. You are a person very trustworthy, I have no doubt; but I never send my servants for such sums as that you mention, especially when they have not been with me three months. So now, you may go--and when I want to send you to London, or elsewhere, I shall be sure to inform you." The servant accordingly retired, with a mortified and somewhat dogged air; but, although he had not been entirely without hopes that his master might indeed dispatch him for the money, yet his purpose was sufficiently answered, to prevent him feeling deeply the disappointment of expectations that had never been very sanguine. The tidings Burrel had heard annoyed him considerably; for although a doubt never crossed his mind in regard to the payment of the money having been made by Lord Ashborough, it seemed so extraordinary that Mr. Tims had not made him acquainted with the day of payment, that a vague suspicion of something being wrong obtruded itself upon his imagination, and kept him for some time from sleep.