Had I?'
Ralph made no reply.
'Had I?' said the man again.
'You had had your wages,' rejoined Ralph, 'and had done your work. We
stood on equal ground so far, and could both cry quits.'
'Then, but not afterwards,' said the other.
'Not afterwards, certainly, nor even then, for (as you have just said)
you owed me money, and do still,' replied Ralph.
'That's not all,' said the man, eagerly. 'That's not all. Mark that. I
didn't forget that old sore, trust me. Partly in remembrance of that,
and partly in the hope of making money someday by the scheme, I took
advantage of my position about you, and possessed myself of a hold upon
you, which you would give half of all you have to know, and never can
know but through me. I left you--long after that time, remember--and,
for some poor trickery that came within the law, but was nothing to what
you money-makers daily practise just outside its bounds, was sent away
a convict for seven years. I have returned what you see me. Now, Mr
Nickleby,' said the man, with a strange mixture of humility and sense of
power, 'what help and assistance will you give me; what bribe, to speak
out plainly? My expectations are not monstrous, but I must live, and to
live I must eat and drink.
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