He put all the money he had in his pocket, left the house, and took the first train to town. At Waterloo he jumped into a hansom and drove straight to the office of Mrs. Crawford's solicitor. He found Mr. Brereton in, and everything ready. The solicitor handed him an open cheque for £3,270, saying gravely as he did so:
"And you are fully resolved to put this money in that South American speculation?"
"My dear sir, there's a vast fortune in that fibre of mine; and now that the machinery has been perfected, it is only stretching out one's hands to gather in hundreds of thousands of pounds."
Brereton shook his head.
"The best place in which to put money is English Consols."
"What, less than three per cent.! For you can't buy even at par now. Why, my dear sir, it's letting money rust."
"It's keeping money safe."
Crawford shrugged his shoulders and made a grimace of dissatisfaction.
"Over-prudence, my dear Mr. Brereton. Who never ventured never got."
"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush; and of all the uncertain things I know of there is only one worse than putting money in South American speculations, and that is putting it in Central American ones."