CHAPTER XXXVIII.
GREEK MEETS GREEK.
The novelty of possession had not yet palled upon Lewis Rand. It seemed to him still like a dream, of whose reality he could scarcely assure himself. Day after day he wandered through the magnificently-furnished rooms of the stately dwelling, and surveyed them with a proud rising of the heart. In the evening, as he sat before the grate fire in the library, for the evenings were growing cool, he would run over in his mind the long list of his possessions, and launch forth in imagination upon plans which he meant to carry out. If by chance the image of the cousin whom he had defrauded presented itself, it was hastily dismissed.
One evening, as he sat idly before the fire, indulging in complacent thoughts, a servant announced a visitor.
“Bring him in here,” said Lewis, albeit somewhat surprised at an intrusion at that late hour. This surprise was not lessened when, in the visitor, he recognized Mr. Sharp.
The lawyer advanced with an air of easy assurance, and as he glanced about him observed, rubbing his hands, “Really, Mr. Rand, you are quite charmingly situated. I am reminded of what I have read of the Mohammedan Paradise. To make it complete, you only need a houri.”
“Yet, Paradise as it is,” said Lewis, significantly, for he had neither forgotten nor forgiven the lawyer’s treachery, “it is not free from the intrusion of evil spirits.”
“Indeed!” returned Mr. Sharp, with an admirable air of unconsciousness, “you surprise me.”
“Not more than I am surprised to see you here. If it is not taking too great a liberty, might I inquire the motive of your visit? I presume it is not the pleasure of seeing me.”
“That’s undoubtedly one of my motives,” said the lawyer, affably; “but, as you surmise, it is not the only one. I wish to speak with you on important business.”
“Perhaps you have made out a bill of charge for the very valuable services you have rendered me?”