"And if you would only pay a quarter of the money, he would get out to-night."
"I won't pay a sixpence till January."
"Then he will be totally ruined, sir, his wife says."
"Well—he must be ruined, then. Go and turn her out, and send up Lafleur."
And the fashionable gentleman, who would not owe a debt of honour for half an hour, thought no more of the sum which was due to a tradesman, which had been already owing for nearly a year, and which he could have immediately settled without the slightest inconvenience to himself.
For this man was rich; and, having got his money in the City (God knows how), had now come to the West End to make the most of it.
"Lafleur," said the fashionable gentleman to the French valet, "you must dismiss that fellow John to-morrow morning."
"Yes, sir."
"He actually had the impertinence to bring me a message from a dun, while I was in a hurry to get dressed for dinner."
"Indeed, sir—you don't say so sir!" ejaculated the valet, who had as much horror of a dun as an overseer has of a pauper. "Yes, sir—I will dismiss him to-morrow, sir—and without a character too."