"Is Forde in this, too?"
"Ach, yes," returned the other; "in what is it poor Forde is not? He is so good, so kind, so easy, or what you English call in your droll way—soft."
"Perhaps," remarked Mr. Asherill dubiously, "he has had a good deal to do with you, Kleinwort?"
"A little; yes, a little; not with me exact, but correspondents of mine."
"And I expect he will have more to do with you before all transactions are finally closed," continued Mr. Asherill.
"It may be; who can tell? business grows."
"True," agreed Mr. Asherill, "and falls off, which brings us back to Mortomley. Why, as you two are so much interested in the affair, do you not act as friendly trustees and help to pull him through?"
"Oh! it is deucedly unpleasant being mixed up in such affairs," said Mr. Werner hastily.
"He means nothing by that," remarked Mr. Kleinwort, in reference to his companion's adverb, at which Mr. Asherill had shaken his head in grave remonstrance. "As to Mortomley, poor fellow, Forde asked me to see to the property, but I made answer—
"No, no; I have mine own business to attend to; anything in reason it is possible to do for the poor fellow and that mistaken little lady, yes; but I cannot neglect my own family and my own interests, even for the sake of that most beautiful child her mother refused to let kiss old, ugly Kleinwort."