“And you will go to London?”
“Yes, next week, I think.”
“Next week! Why not this week? It’s only Monday.”
“There is no need to hurry, Jemima. There might be some mistake. And it’s as well to give the gentlemen time to prepare.”
“Lawyers don’t make mistakes,” said Miss Jemima: “And as for preparing, you may be sure they have done that already.”
But nothing could induce “Cobbler” Horn to hasten his movements; and his sister was fain to content herself with his promise to write to the lawyers the next day, which he duly fulfilled.
CHAPTER IX.
A STRANGE CLIENT FOR MESSRS. TONGS AND BALL.
The day on which “Cobbler” Horn had proposed to the lawyers to pay them his promised visit, was the following Monday, at three o’clock in the afternoon, and by return of post there came a letter from the lawyers assenting to the arrangement. During the week which intervened, “Cobbler” Horn did not permit either himself or his sister to mention to a third person the change his circumstances had undergone. Nor did he encourage conversation between his sister and himself on the subject of his suddenly acquired wealth. And neither his manner of life nor the ordering of his house gave any indication of the altered position in which he was placed. He did not permit the astounding news he had received to interfere with the simple regularity of his life. Miss Jemima might have been inclined to introduce into her domestic arrangements some outward and visible sign of the altered fortunes of the house; but her brother’s will prevailed, and all things continued as before. The “golden shoemaker” even continued to work at his trade in the usual way. And all the time he was thinking—thinking and praying; and many generous purposes, which afterwards bore abundant fruit, began to germinate in his mind.