'
'My dear sir, you will kindly wait until I render you my bill,'
said Mr. Robbie severely.'
'It seemed to me,' I protested, 'that coming to you almost as a
stranger, and placing in your hands a piece of business so contrary
to your habits, some substantial guarantee of my good faith--'
'Not the way that we do business in Scotland, sir,' he interrupted,
with an air of closing the dispute.
'And yet, Mr. Robbie,' I continued, 'I must ask you to allow me to
proceed. I do not merely refer to the expenses of the case. I
have my eye besides on Todd and Candlish. They are thoroughly
deserving fellows; they have been subjected through me to a
considerable term of imprisonment; and I suggest, sir, that you
should not spare money for their indemnification. This will
explain,' I added smiling, 'my offer of the thousand pounds. It
was in the nature of a measure by which you should judge the scale
on which I can afford to have this business carried through.'
'I take you perfectly, Mr. Ducie,' said he. 'But the sooner I am
off, the better this affair is like to be guided. My clerk will
show you into the waiting-room and give you the day's Caledonian
Mercury and the last Register to amuse yourself with in the
interval.'
I believe Mr. Robbie was at least three hours gone. I saw him
descend from a cab at the door, and almost immediately after I was
shown again into his study, where the solemnity of his manner led
me to augur the worst.
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