‘Here is a bit of news for you,’ said Sir Edward Kenton, as, after a morning of work with his agent, both came in to the family luncheon. ‘Mr. Burford tells me that the Northmoor title has descended on his agent, Morton.’
‘That stick!’ exclaimed George, the son and heir.
‘Not altogether a stick, Mr. Kenton,’ said the bald-headed gentlemanly agent. ‘He is very worthy and industrious!’
Frederica Kenton and her brother looked at each other as if this character were not inconsistent with that of a stick.
‘Poor man!’ said their mother. ‘Is it not a great misfortune to him?’
‘I should think him sensible and methodical,’ said Sir Edward. ‘By the way, did you not tell me that it was his diligence that discovered the clause to which our success was owing in the Stockpen suit?’
‘Yes, Sir Edward, through his indefatigable diligence in reading over every document connected
with the matter. I take shame to myself,’ he added, smiling, ‘for it was in a letter that I had read and put aside, missing that passage.’
‘Then I am under great obligations to him?’ said Sir Edward.
‘I could also tell of what only came to my knowledge many years later, and not through himself, of attempts made to tamper with his integrity, and gain private information from him which he had steadily baffled.’