"And the agreement is signed, of course?"
"Signed, sealed, and delivered," was the answer of Mr. Dexter, who had taken the remark as a question.
"Just so. And there are no legal means of getting rid of the man?"
"None at all, sir, for three years, if he pleases to stop. But, Mr. Chandos, he appears to me to be an exceedingly eligible tenant—so very wealthy and respectable a gentleman!"
"Wealthy and respectable though he may be, I would give a thousand pounds to be quit of him, Dexter."
"But why, sir?" repeated the agent, in surprise.
"He is not likely to prove an agreeable neighbour. I don't like the look of him."
"Pardon the suggestion, Mr. Chandos, but you are not obliged to have anything to do with him," returned the agent, who looked as though the views propounded were quite different from any he had ever met with. "So long as Mr. Edwin Barley keeps his house respectable and pays his rent, that's all you need know of him, sir, unless you like."
"What brought him to settle himself here?" abruptly asked Mr. Chandos.
"Well, I inquired once, but got no satisfactory answer. They say his own place by Nettleby is quite magnificent, compared to this house that he has taken. I remarked upon it to Haines. 'Gentlemen like to go about the country and please their fancy for change,' Haines answered me. Which is true enough, sir."