“And at other times they say, ‘Can it never be done without these tricks, Mr. Riah? Come, come, Mr. Riah, we know the arts of your people’—my people!—‘If the money is to be lent, fetch it, fetch it; if it is not to be lent, keep it and say so.’ They never believe me.”
“ That’s all right,” said Fascination Fledgeby.
“They say, ‘We know, Mr. Riah, we know. We have but to look at you, and we know.’ ”
“Oh, a good ’un are you for the post,” thought Fledgeby, “and a good ’un was I to mark you out for it! I may be slow, but I am precious sure.”
Not a syllable of this reflection shaped itself in any scrap of Mr. Fledgeby’s breath, lest it should tend to put his servant’s price up. But looking at the old man as he stood quiet with his head bowed and his eyes cast down, he felt