"I think so; I really think so. I must lay my head upon my pillow with my mind at ease--my mind at ease. You, with your lofty notions and your wild search for the unattainable, you with your spectres and visions, know little of the sufferings of a sensitive spirit such as mine."
"Faugh! Is this worth while?"
"You have your ways, I have mine," said Dr. Vinsen, with a sly smile. "I must trouble you to listen while I go over the ground."
"So be it. And if my suspicions are correct--and they generally are--I may trouble you to listen while I go over the ground."
"It will be a pleasure. I think it is three years since you and I became acquainted. Correct me if I am wrong."
"It is immaterial. Say three years--or thirty."
"No, my friend; let us be exact. This is an affair of figures. It is three years since you wrote to me in acknowledgment of a circular you received from me. I had money to lend, you required a loan. I advanced you five hundred pounds."
"Four."
"Five, my friend, five. The odd hundred was deducted as payment of interest in advance."
"Part payment."