“There does not seem much chance for me, Mr. Sherwin, after what you have said.”
“Well: I’m not so sure of that—plenty of chances here, you know. You’ll see him often enough: he lives near, and drops in constantly of evenings. We settle business matters that won’t come into business hours, in my private snuggery upstairs. In fact, he’s one of the family; treat him as such, and get anything out of him you can—the more the better, as far as regards that. Ah! Mrs. S. , you may stare, Ma’am; but I say again, he’s one of the family; may be, he’ll be my partner some of these days—you’ll have to get used to him then, whether you like it or not.”
“One more question: is he married or single?”
“Single, to be sure—a regular old bachelor, if ever there was one yet.”
During the whole time we had been speaking, Mrs. Sherwin had looked at us with far more earnestness and attention than I had ever seen her display before. Even her languid faculties seemed susceptible of active curiosity on the subject of Mr. Mannion—the