"Me here? Well, so are you!" hiccoughed the reverend gentleman. "Who the devil would expect to find old 'shent-per-shent' in a lady's boudoir?"
"I am frequently in places where you would least expect to meet me," said Aarons, with a scowl at the other's tipsy familiarity. "But this meeting is opportune; I want a few words with you, and as you will gain nothing by waiting here, you may as well come with me."
Goodridge hesitated and made an abortive attempt to wriggle out of the usurer's firm grasp.
"You can't do anything to me," he said at last, in a resigned tone. "I'm safe in the 'Rules,' and all the creditors in London Town can not touch me."
However, he made no further resistance, and when they reached the street, Aarons' manner changed completely. His hand slipped through the parson's arm with a friendly pressure and his voice lost its grinding harshness.
"Is there no quiet place of entertainment near by, where we can have a little talk—on business?" he inquired. "Pleasant business, Parson; business that may fill your pockets with gold, mayhap; or, if not that, at least will give us a chance to crack a bottle of good wine together."
"You have come to the right man if you are thirsty," replied Goodridge solemnly. "I never drink between meals myself, but there are few places within the pale of civilization, where I can not help a fellow-creature to quench his thirst."
With which exordium, he turned into a narrow lane or mews, at the farther end of which a mean little inn advertised its attractions by a sign from which the device had long since disappeared.
"'Tis better inside than out," the reverend gentleman declared, and he was so far right that the unoccupied coffee-room was cleanly sanded and a bottle of not absolutely poisonous port was soon on the rough wooden table between the oddly assorted couple.
Aarons plied his guest discreetly, while he led up to the subject he wished to discuss. He praised the beauty and charms of Lady Prudence, and congratulated Goodridge on the friendship of a lady so high in the queen's favor. No doubt her influence would obtain some fat preferment for his reverence? Goodridge winked with great unction, but was not to be drawn by any mere conversational bait.