It need scarcely be said that this latter statement was received with hearty applause and with an irrepressible “he-ar, he-ar!” from the toady, which was not only tolerated by the meeting, but echoed by the wag in the distance, who, though his words that day had been few, had done the shareholders good service nevertheless, inasmuch as he had quelled, to some extent the propensities of a self-sufficient “bore.”
Lest the reader should regard us as a statistical bore, we shall bring this chapter to a close.
Chapter Seventeen.
Gertie is Mysteriously cared for—Sam Natly Dines under Difficulties in Connexion with the Block System.
One day, not long after the half-yearly meeting described in the last chapter, Mrs Marrot—being at the time engaged with the baby—received a visit from an elderly gentleman, who introduced himself as a lawyer, and said that he had been sent by a client to make a proposal to her—
“Of course,” he said, with a bland smile, “I do not refer to a matrimonial proposal.”
Mrs Marrot felt and looked surprised, but waited for more in silence.
“To come to the point at once,” continued the elderly gentleman, “my client, who is rather eccentric, has taken a great fancy, it seems, to your little daughter Gertrude—Gertie he calls her—and is desirous of giving her a good education, if you have no objection.”