‘You get good enough security, it seems to me,’ said the Captain, a thought gruffly.
‘Maybe I do,’ said Nathaniel, ‘and maybe I do not. Maybe I have a fancy for my fine guineas, and do not care to part with them, however good the security may be.’
‘Lord, how you chop and change!’ said the Captain. ‘Act like a plain man, brother. Will you or will you not?’
‘I have said that I will,’ said Nathaniel slowly.
I could see that for some reason it amused him to irritate his brother by his reluctance and by his slow speech. The ancient knave knew it for the surest way to spur him to the enterprise.
‘When can I have the money?’ asked the Captain.
‘Not to-day,’ said Nathaniel slowly, ‘nor yet to-morrow.’
‘Why not to-morrow? It would serve me well to-morrow.’
‘Very well,’ said Nathaniel with a sigh; ‘to-morrow it shall be, though you do jostle me vilely.’