That night the lawyer had a final look over the papers relating to the affairs of his late client, Mr Romer. He did this after the boys and his household had retired and behind locked doors.
A fox-like man of about fifty Mr Jabez was, with thin hair and side whiskers, originally dark red, but now grizzled and grey. Much poring over documents had reddened his eyelids and sharp long nose, and taken the red out of his long parchment-like jaws. His mouth was thin-lipped and wide, which gave him an unpleasant grin when he smiled, as he was doing now, his eyes also were yellow speckled, like Fred Weldon’s, but, unlike Fred’s open eyes, they were shifty and half hidden by the reddened, scantily lashed lids.
“Hum, these will do, I think. It is not at all likely that this boy will dispute my accounts or ask outside aid to understand these professional mysteries. I’ll have it over tomorrow with him, while he is eager to get away, and make him a liberal offer, to be rid of him at once and for ever.”
It will be seen from this muttered soliloquy inside the door of Mr Jabez Raymond’s study that he was of the same mind as his unsophisticated ward—to get into and over business as rapidly as possible.
Next morning, therefore, after the customary breakfast of bacon and eggs, he forestalled Ned by asking the three boys into his sanctum.
“I intended to postpone going into particulars respecting your late father’s affairs until you had gained your majority, Mr Edward; but as you have already mapped out your career, I think it will meet your views if I do so at once.”
He grinned, what he considered to be an indulgent smile upon the young gentlemen, while instinctively they wished he had not done so; that widening of his thin mouth somehow spoilt the effect of his words.
“I do not suppose you have any desire to go very deeply into your family history. Yet you had best glance over these documents after I have told you briefly their contents, and see how at present your fortune stands.”
“Your word will be quite sufficient, Mr Raymond,” replied Ned, hastily. “My father trusted you, and that is quite enough for me.”
The lawyer once more grinned, and spread out his hands in a deprecating fashion, as he answered—