"Thank you, John Peterby," said he. "You may be the best valet in the world—I hope you are—but I know that you are a man, and, as a man, I tell you that I have decided upon going on with the adventure."
"Then I cannot hope to dissuade you, sir?"
"No, John!"
"Indeed, I feared not."
"It was for this I came to London, and I begin—at once."
"Very good, sir."
"Consequently, you have a busy day before you; you see I shall require, first of all, clothes, John; then—well, I suppose a house to live in—"
"A—house, sir?"
"In a fashionable quarter, and furnished, if possible."
"A lodging, St. James's Street way, is less expensive, sir, and more usual."