‘But what harm could the knowledge of such a fact do him?’
‘Upset all his notions, render him incapable of thinking about anything of importance, occasion an utter—’
But can anything be more important?’ interrupted the visitor.
My uncle went on without heeding him.
‘Plunge him over head and ears in—’
‘Hot water, I grant you,’ again interrupted the enemy, to my horror; ‘but it wouldn’t be for long. Only give me your sanction, and I promise you to have the case as tight as a drum before I ask you to move a step in it.’
‘But why should you take so much interest in what is purely our affair?’ asked my uncle.
‘Why, of course you would have to pay the piper,’ said the man.
This was too much! Pay the man that played upon me after I was made into bagpipes! The idea was too frightful.
‘I must look out for business, you know; and, by Jove! I shall never have such a chance, if I live to the age of Methuselah.’