‘Going to retire, eh? Made your fortin. Well, you have had a good haul out of this affair, and no mistake. Come, gov’nor, don’t you think you ought to stand me another thou.?’
‘No, I don’t,’ answered Marston decidedly. ‘A bargain’s a bargain, and you’ve had your share.’
‘All right, gov’nor; only, of course, the more I get now the less likely I should be to get hard up and ‘ave pr’aps to come a ferretin’ out old friends and a borrerin’ of ‘em.’
Marston looked at his companion sharply. He understood the implied threat.
‘When that misfortune happens, Josh, it will be time enough to talk about it. Good night.’
Without stopping to bear Heckett’s reply, Marston turned away from him, crossed the road, and turned down a side street. He was anxious to cut the conversation short, for it annoyed him.
Heckett’s half-veiled threat had seriously alarmed him. He had so much need now to bury the past, and he didn’t at all relish the idea of Josh Heckett pursuing him into the happy future which he hoped and believed awaited him.
CHAPTER XLVII.
MR. JABEZ MAKES A DISCOVERY.
Her master having once again departed on his travels, Mrs. Turvey had plenty of leisure to attend to her own business, and the most important business she had on hand was Jabez.
If the elderly clerk of Messrs. Grigg and Limpet had some reason to complain of Mr. Gurth Egerton coming home in the unexpected manner which has been fully related in the earlier chapters of this veracious narrative, he had also cause to complain of his equally abrupt departure, for it left him completely at the housekeeper’s mercy.