"I am."
"With full authority, as I understand."
"With full authority."
"The bank in which his money is deposited has written instructions to that effect."
"It has--but what are you driving at?"
"Easy, Mr. Paget, easy. Do you know that I am about to lose a patient?"
"Your own doing."
"But for your ends. Now, I want a guarantee. I had a little private conversation with your step-brother yesterday, in which I skilfully pumped him. What do you think I learned? That you had been realizing a quantity of valuable securities for him lately, and that there was a very considerable balance at the bank to his credit."
"You are an infernal meddler."
"All in your interest, Leonard, and a little, a very little, in my own. You will give me here, and now, a check for two thousand pounds."