“I had been under the impression—the erroneous impression—that you were yourself prepared to advance this small sum.”
“Me! Terry Driscoll lend five thousand pounds! Arrah, look at me, my Lord,—just take a glance at me, and you 'll see how likely it is I 'd have as many shillings! 'T was only by rayson of being always about—on the tramp, as they call it—that Mr. Hankes thought I could be of use to your Lordship. 'Go over,' says he, 'and just tell him who and what you are.' There it is now!”
Lord Glengariff made no reply, but slowly walked the room in deep meditation; a passing feeling of pity for the poor fellow before him had overcome any irritation his own disappointment had occasioned, and for the moment the bent of his mind was compassionate.
“Well, Driscoll,” said he, at length, “I don't exactly see how you can serve me in this matter.”
“Yes, my Lord,” said Terry, with a pleasant leer of his restless eyes.
“I say I don't perceive that you can contribute in any way to the object I have in view,” said his Lordship, half peevish at being, as he thought, misapprehended. “Hankes ought to have known as much himself.”
“Yes, my Lord,” chimed in Terry.
“And you may tell him so from me. He is totally unfitted for his situation, and I am only surprised that Dunn, shrewd fellow that he is, should have ever placed a man of this stamp in a position of such trust. The first requisite in such a man is to understand the deference he owes to us.”
There was an emphasis on the last monosyllable that pretty clearly announced how little share Terry Driscoll enjoyed in this co-partnery.
“That because I have a momentary occasion for a small sum of ready money, he should send over to confer with me a half-witted—I mean a man only half recovered from a fever—a poor fellow still suffering from—”