come at nine the day after to-morrow and you'll get your money.'
'Shall I sure?'
'I don't bilk, and you won't know whether I do or not unless you come. Oh, but it's long and long to wait! Good-bye, Bessie,—send Beeton here as you go out.'
The housekeeper came.
'What are all the fittings of my rooms worth?' said Dick imperiously.
'`Tisn't for me to say, sir. Some things is very pretty and some is wore out dreadful.'
'I'm insured for two hundred and seventy.'
'Insurance policies is no criterion, though I don't say—'
'Oh, damn your longwindedness! You've made your pickings out of me and the other tenants. Why, you talked of retiring and buying a public-house the other day. Give a straight answer to a straight question.'
'Fifty,' said Mr. Beeton, without a moment's hesitation.
'Double it; or I'll break up half my sticks and burn the rest.'
He felt his way to a bookstand that supported a pile of sketch-books, and wrenched out one of the mahogany pillars.
