"I could quote hundreds of instances, all tending the same way," he continued.
Poor Margaret shook her head: "I am afraid I should find it very difficult to understand."
"Not at all, not at all. Look here, now. What are you anxious to know? I venture to say I'll make it clear to you before you leave this room."
Margaret smiled. This man's frankness pleased her. His manner, though a little unpolished, was, she thought, anything but displeasing; then he seemed to understand business thoroughly. Perhaps he would show that, after all, her affairs were not so desperate as they seemed.
"I am first anxious to know what you mean by writing to me that one of the mortgages has turned out badly," she said.
"Easy to explain," he answered, with a self-satisfied smile. "Only, perhaps, by the bye, I shall have to begin with the A B C, as one may say, and acquaint you with the nature of a mortgage."
"If you please, Mr. Robinson; I am afraid I am ignorant even to that extent."
"So much the better, Mrs. Grey, so much the better: 'A little knowledge'—you know the proverb. Ladies take up such ideas when they know, as they imagine, something of business! I had far rather deal with total ignorance on these points; but don't be discouraged. We must begin at the very beginning. Forsaking business terms altogether for the moment, I will, if you please, put this to you simply. You take me, Mrs. Grey?" He smiled with a frankness that was charming to behold. "Do at Rome as Rome does. With ladies talk of business as they are able to understand."
Mrs. Grey smiled her acquiescence.