'You are my man of business—aren't you? and have no grounds for ill-will—eh?' said the captain, drily.
'No ill-will certainly—quite the reverse. Thank Heaven, I think I may truly say, I bear ill-will to no man living; and wish you, Captain Lake, nothing but good, Sir—nothing but good.'
'Except a hasty word or two, I know no reason you should not,' said the captain, in the same tone.
'Quite so. But, Captain Brandon Lake, there is nothing like being completely above-board—it has been my rule through life; and I will say—it would not be frank and candid to say anything else—that I have of late been anything but satisfied with the position which, ostensibly your professional adviser and confidential man of business, I have occupied. Have I been consulted?—I put it to you; have I been trusted? Has there been any real confidence, Captain Lake, upon your part? You have certainly had relations with Mr. Mark Wylder—correspondence, for anything I know. You have entertained the project of purchasing the Reverend William Wylder's reversion; and you have gone into electioneering business, and formed connections of that sort, without once doing me the honour to confer with me on the subject. Now, the plain question is, do you wish to retain my services?'
'Certainly,' said Captain Lake, biting his lip, with a sinister little frown.
'Then, Captain Lake, upon the same principle, and speaking quite above-board, you must dismiss at once from your mind the idea that you can do so upon the terms you have of late seen fit to impose. I am speaking frankly when I say there must be a total change. I must be in reality what I am held out to the world as being—your trusted, and responsible, and sole adviser. I don't aspire to the position—I am willing at this moment to retire from it; but I never yet knew a divided direction come to good. It is an office of great responsibility, and I for one will not consent to touch it on any other conditions than those I have taken the liberty to mention.'
'These are easily complied with—in fact I undertake to show you they have never been disturbed,' answered Lake, rather sullenly. 'So that being understood—eh?—I suppose we have nothing particular to add?'
And Captain Lake extended his gloved hand to take leave.
But the attorney looked down and then up, with a shadow on his face, and his lip in his finger and thumb, and he said—
'That's all very well, and a sine qua non, so far as it goes! but, my dear Captain Lake, let us be plain. You must see, my dear Sir, with such rumours, possibly about to get afloat, and such persons about to appear, as this James Dutton, that matters are really growing critical, and there's no lack of able solicitors who would on speculation, undertake a suit upon less evidence, perhaps, than may be forthcoming, to upset your title, under the will, through Mrs. Dorcas Brandon Lake—your joint title—in favour of the reversioner.'