"What of that? After my marriage we will continue our reading."
"But you are going to marry?" he repeated.
"Good heaven! Do you think Mrs. Fraser an ogress? Do you think she will eat you? When you know her you will like her." He shook his head furiously, and violently waved his hand before his face.
"Pay me, Sir, pay me, and let me go!" he exclaimed.
Disgusted by his irritable perversity, I drew out my cheque-book.
"Can you not pay me in gold?" he asked.
"Certainly, if you prefer it. But first let me see what I owe you."
I took a slip of paper and made my calculations; then went to an iron safe, drew out a cash-box and gave him the money.
"There," said I, "is the discharge of your proper claims. But I owe you something for the interest you have taken in me and the hearty industry you have employed on my behalf. This will perhaps make my gratitude more significant than were I to express it in words only."
And I handed a bank note for twenty pounds.