"D—n you, can't you answer my question?" said Mr. Dingwell, more in his accustomed vein.
"Certainly, sir, we'll reply to it. Do, Mr. Levi, do leave the room; your presence at this moment only leads to excitement."
Levi, for a moment, pondered fiercely, and then nodded a sulky acquiescence.
"I shall overtake you in the court, Mr. Levi, if you can wait two or three minutes there."
The Jew nodded over his shoulder, and was gone.
"Mr. Dingwell, sir, I can't, I assure you. It's not in my power; it is in the hands of quite other people, on whom, ultimately, of course, these expenses will fall, to sanction the outlay by way of weekly allowance, which you suggest. It is true I am a contributor, but not exactly in cash; only in money's worth—advice, experience, and technical knowledge. But I will apply in the proper quarter, without delay. I wish, Mr. Dingwell, I were the party; you and I would not, I venture to think, be long in settling it between us."
"No, to be sure, you're all such liberal fellows—it's always some one else that puts us under the screw," laughed Mr. Dingwell, discordantly, with his face still flushed, and his hand trembling visibly, "you never have the stock yourselves—not you,—there's always, Mr. Sheridan tells us, you know, in that capital play of his, a d——d unconscionable fellow in the background, and in Shakspeare's play, Shylock, you remember, he hasn't the money himself, but Tubal, a wealthy Hebrew of his tribe, will furnish him. Hey! I suppose they gave the immortal Shakspeare a squeeze in his day; he understood 'em. But Shylock and Tubal are both dead and rotten long ago. It's a comfort you can't escape death, with all your cunning, d—n you."
But Mr. Larkin spoke peaceably to Mr. Dingwell. The expense, up to a certain time, would, of course, fall upon Mr. Kiffyn Verney; after that, however, Mr. Larkin and the Jew firm would feel it. But be it how it might, they could not afford to quarrel with Mr. Dingwell; and Mr. Dingwell was a man of a flighty and furious temper.