And for this first part of my journey my thoughts ran on that money, and on what Maisie and I would do with it when it was safely in my pocket.

We had already bought the beginnings of our furnishing, and had them stored in an unused warehouse at the back of her father's premises; with Mr.
Gilverthwaite's bank-note, lying there snugly in waiting for me, we should be able to make considerable additions to our stock, and the wedding-day would come nearer.
But from these anticipations I presently began to think about the undertaking on which I was now fairly engaged.

When I came to consider it, it seemed a queer affair.

As I understood it, it amounted to this:--Here was Mr.Gilverthwaite, a man that was a stranger in Berwick, and who appeared to have plenty of money and no business, suddenly getting a letter which asked him to meet a man, near midnight, and in about as lonely a spot as you could select out of the whole district.

Why at such a place, and at such an hour?
And why was this meeting of so much importance that Mr.Gilverthwaite, being unable to keep the appointment himself, must pay as much as ten pounds to another person to keep it for him?
What I had said to Maisie about Mr.Gilverthwaite having so much money that ten pounds was no more to him than ten pence to me was, of course, all nonsense, said just to quieten her fears and suspicions--I knew well enough, having seen a bit of the world in a solicitor's office for the past six years, that even millionaires don't throw their money about as if pounds were empty peascods.