Whatever
you gleaned, or heard, or saw, when you served me, the world knows and
magnifies already. You could tell it nothing that would surprise it,
unless, indeed, it redounded to my credit or honour, and then it would
scout you for a liar. And yet I don't find business slack, or clients
scrupulous. Quite the contrary. I am reviled or threatened every day by
one man or another,' said Ralph; 'but things roll on just the same, and
I don't grow poorer either.'
'I neither revile nor threaten,' rejoined the man. 'I can tell you of
what you have lost by my act, what I only can restore, and what, if I
die without restoring, dies with me, and never can be regained.'
'I tell my money pretty accurately, and generally keep it in my own
custody,' said Ralph. 'I look sharply after most men that I deal with,
and most of all I looked sharply after you. You are welcome to all you
have kept from me.'
'Are those of your own name dear to you?' said the man emphatically. 'If
they are--'
'They are not,' returned Ralph, exasperated at this perseverance, and
the thought of Nicholas, which the last question awakened.
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