"I want the right thing to be done," he replied slowly, as if deliberating on a knotty point. "And it isn't easy to say off-hand what that is."
"Do you want me to send the things back into the department?"
"No.... No, the time has passed for doing that. It would muddle the accounts. Come into the dining-room, and show me the shop things in there."
She obeyed him; and then he asked if there were any shop things upstairs.
"Yes, several."
"Well, you can show me those to-morrow morning.... I begin to see my way. Yes, I think I see now what's fair and proper."
"Do you?"
He said emphatically that in justice and equity he possessed a half share of all goods taken out of his shop, no matter how long ago. And he insisted on having his share. He would obtain a valuation of the goods, and Mrs. Marsden could pay him cash for half the amount, and retain the goods. Or he would send the goods to London and sell them by auction; and they would each take half the proceeds.
Mrs. Marsden chose the second method of dealing with the problem.