"And so Mrs. Frere is your principal, Mr. Thacker," said Yeldham, after a moment's pause, to recover his equanimity, "and was her friend's principal creditor, eh? Well, well, that's strange enough. And you and she don't put your horses together now? What can have made you agree to differ?"
"You've a very insinuating manner, Mr. Yeldham. It's a pity you're not in the courts instead of in chamber practice. You'd get it out of them wonderfully there. But it's only due to myself to tell you that I see your every move, and that I should not tumble to it in the least if I had not previously made up my mind to have it all out."
Charles Yeldham smiled and bowed, and Mr. Thacker proceeded.
"You know these women don't understand business; and because it had suited my book, for other than mere monetary reasons"--and here he settled his cravat and looked conscious--"to do work for Miss Gould, she began to look upon me as a mere clerk. She forgot, tins young woman, that while she was a poor governess, glad enough to come up to Hampstead and have tea with my sisters, I was one of the leading financiers of the West-end. She forgot that in my bureau I had the names of half the peerage on stamped paper; that I dined here, and lunched there; and was hand-and-glove with some of the best men in London. She forgot that--I see you grinning, Yeldham; and all this time that I'm swaggering you're waiting to get at the story. Well, I'll tell it you as shortly as I can. You're too well posted up in these matters not to know that a tremendous smash like that in the City two years ago could not have passed over without touching most of us at the West-end. We've been all of us under the harrow, more or less, ever since; and I found it hard work to pull up the losses of that time. I just did that, however, and no more. But there are two or three affairs in which I'm largely interested, which have been excellent, and which will be better still, only just at this particular moment they want a little bolstering. All I could do for them I have done; but a lot of my money was still locked up, and I knew that these things only wanted backing to be splendid investments. So, a short time ago, I went to our friend Mrs. F., and told her all about it; took her a sheet of paper full of figures--women always like that; most of 'em can't understand 'em, but she can--and went thoroughly into it with her; proved that it would be a good thing for her, and urged it as a personal favour to myself. Damme, sir, she refused to have any thing to do with it!"