"What?"
"Why, it is only a whim of becoming a landed proprietor."
"Come to the point, pray! You annoy me."
"In a word, then, I am anxious to become a landed proprietor. And, if not inconvenient to you, I should like—that is I should wish—to have my funds now in your hands; and I came to say so."
"Ah, ah!"
"That does not offend you, I hope?"
"Why should I be offended?"
"Because you might think—"
"I might think—?"
"That I am the echo of certain reports—"