“Bob,” said Mr. Ben Allen, laying down his knife and fork, and fixing his eyes on the visage of his friend, “Bob, I’ll tell you what it is.”

“What is it?” inquired Mr. Bob Sawyer.

“You must make yourself, with as little delay as possible, master of Arabella’s one thousand pounds.”

“Three percent consolidated bank annuities, now standing in her name in the book or books of the governor and company of the Bank of England,” added Bob Sawyer, in legal phraseology.

“Exactly so,” said Ben. “She has it when she comes of age, or marries. She wants a year of coming of age, and if you plucked up a spirit she needn’t want a month of being married.”