"Ay! see how he speaks of me!" interrupted Gammon, with such a smile!—
"And doesn't he speak so of me? and all of us?"
"He'll let the house tread on him till he can tread on the house, I dare say."
"But you must own, Mr. Gammon, it shows we've licked him into shape a bit—eh?"
"Oh, it's a little vile creeping reptile now, and so it will be to the end of the chapter—of our proceedings; and when we've done everything—really, Mr. Quirk! if one were apt to lose one's temper, it would be to see such a thing as that put into possession of such a fortune."
"That may be, Mr. Gammon; but I really—hem!—trust—I've—a higher feeling!—To right—the injured"—— He could get no farther.
"Hem!" exclaimed Gammon.
The partners smiled at one another. A touch, or an attempted touch at disinterestedness!—and at Quirk's time of life!
"But he's now in a humor for training, at all events—isn't he?" exclaimed Quirk—"we've something now to go to work upon—gradually."
"Isn't that a leaf out of my book, Mr. Quirk?—isn't that exactly what"——