You'll get it just as small with Rowley as with anybody
else. And the long and short of it is, the lad's honest, he likes
me, I trust him; he is my servant, or nobody.'
'He might not accept,' said Romaine.
'I bet you a thousand pounds he does!' cried I. 'But no matter;
all you have to do is to send him out to-night on this cross-
country business, and leave the thing to me. I tell you, he will
be my servant, and I tell you, he will do well.'
I had crossed the room, and was already overhauling my wardrobe as
I spoke.
'Well,' concluded the lawyer, with a shrug, 'one risk with another:
a la guerre comme a la guerre, as you would say. Let the brat come
and be useful, at least.' And he was about to ring the bell, when
his eye was caught by my researches in the wardrobe. 'Do not fall
in love with these coats, waistcoats, cravats, and other panoply
and accoutrements by which you are now surrounded. You must not
run the post as a dandy. It is not the fashion, even.'
'You are pleased to be facetious, sir,' said I; 'and not according
to knowledge. These clothes are my life, they are my disguise; and
since I can take but few of them, I were a fool indeed if I
selected hastily! Will you understand, once and for all, what I am
seeking? To be invisible, is the first point; the second, to be
invisible in a post-chaise and with a servant.
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