It was a very small sum which he asked for, modestly conscious that the security he had to offer was of the weakest.

He only wanted thirty pounds, and was willing to give a bill at two months for five-and-thirty.
There was a good deal of hesitation on the part of the lawyer; but Valentine had expected to meet with some difficulty, and was not altogether unprepared for a point-blank refusal.

He was agreeably surprised when George Sheldon told him he would manage that "little matter; only the bill must be for forty." But in proof of the liberal spirit in which Mr.Hawkehurst was to be treated, the friendly lawyer informed him that the two months should be extended to three.
Valentine did not stop to consider that by this friendly process he was to pay at the rate of something over a hundred and thirty per cent per annum for the use of the money he wanted.

He knew that this was his only chance of getting money; so he shut his eyes to the expensive nature of the transaction, and thanked Mr.Sheldon for the accommodation granted to him.
"And now we've settled that little business, I should like to have a few minutes' private chat with you," said George, "on the understanding that what passes between you and me is strictly confidential." "Of course!" "You seem to have been leading rather an idle life for the last few months; and it strikes me, Mr.Hawkehurst, you're too clever a fellow to care about that sort of thing." "Well, I have been in some measure wasting my sweetness on the desert air," Valentine answered carelessly.

"The governor seems to have slipped into a good berth by your brother's agency; but I am not Horatio Nugent Cromie Paget, and the brougham and lavender kids of the Promoter are not for me." "There is money to be picked up by better dodges than promoting," replied the attorney ambiguously; "but I suppose you wouldn't care for anything that didn't bring immediate cash?
You wouldn't care to speculate the chances, however well the business might promise ?" "_C'est selon!_ That's as may be," answered Valentine coolly.