'You? Take a partner? You? At your time of life?'
'I am going to take a partner. And you are the first person who has been told of my intention. Keep it a secret for the moment.'
'Take a partner? Divide your beautiful income by two?'
'Yes, Checkley. I am going to give a share in that beautiful income to a young man.'
'What can a partner do for you that I can't do? Don't I know the whole of the office work? Is there any partner in the world who can draw up a conveyance better than me?'
'You are very useful, Checkley, as you always have been. But you are not a partner, and you never can be.'
'I know that very well. But what's the good of a partner at all?'
'If I have a partner, he will have his own room, and he won't interfere with you. There's no occasion for you to be jealous.'
'As for jealous—well—after more than sixty years' work in this office, it would seem hard to be turned out by some new-comer. But what I say is—what is the good of a partner?'
'The chief good is that the House will be carried on. It is a hundred and twenty years old. I confess I do not like the thought of its coming to an end when I disappear. That will be to me the most important advantage to be gained by taking a partner. The next advantage will be that I can turn over to him a quantity of work. And thirdly, he will bring young blood and new connections. My mind is quite made up, Checkley. I am going to take a partner.'