"
"I wish old Cranmer would have made any other man his executor.
She, too, is always coming with some unreasonable request or
other."
"Mr. Benson's inquiry about his bonus is perfectly reasonable, at
any rate." Mr. Watson, who was dwelling in the slow fashion of
age on what had been said before, now spoke--
"I'll not be sure, but I am almost certain, Mr. Benson said, when
I paid him last June, that he thought he ought to give the
receipt on a stamp, and had spoken about it to Mr. Richard the
time before, but that Mr. Richard said it was of no consequence.
Yes," continued he, gathering up his memory as he went on, "he
did--I remember now--and I thought to myself that Mr. Richard was
but a young man. Mr. Richard will know all about it."
"Yes," said Mr. Farquhar gravely.
"I shan't wait till Richard's return," said Mr. Bradshaw. "We can
soon see if the certificates are in the box Watson points out; if
they are there, the Insurance people are no more fit to manage
their concern than that cat, and I shall tell them so. If they
are not there (as I suspect will prove to be the case), it is
just forgetfulness on Benson's part, as I have said from the
first."
"You forget the payment of the dividends," said Mr. Farquhar, in
a low voice.
"Well, sir! what then?" said Mr. Bradshaw abruptly. While he
spoke--while his eye met Mr. Farquhar's--the hinted meaning of
the latter flashed through his mind; but he was only made angry
to find that such a suspicion could pass through any one's
imagination.
Pages:
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529