"I've caught 'em!" cried George exultantly. "I baited and set my little trap and I've caught, not only slippery Percy, but that two-faced, double-tongued, pill-gilding, thimble-rigging, gammoning, diddling Hunter!"
"This is easier than catching flies," was George's comment, when the cheque for the furniture arrived, together with a document which pretended to be a receipt, but was unable to disguise the fact that it was also an agreement; for it contained a clause, by which George undertook to quit Windward House within three calendar months, and to accept Miss Yard as his tenant for life at a yearly rental of thirty pounds.
He looked forward to a busy day without flinching. Some forms of labour were fascinating, and quashing lawyers was one of them. George did not write to Mr. Hunter returning thanks, but walked into the market town and opened an account with the post office savings bank by paying in the comfortable cheque. Returning to Highfield, he lured Nellie into the garden, and informed her he was piling up money in a reckless fashion.
"Two hundred pounds this morning," he said. "Another two hundred next week. And so it will go on."
"Money Aunt left me. They don't know what a lot she _did_ leave. It's a great secret and I wouldn't tell any one but you. I'm refusing money--that gentleman who called the other day begged me to accept a thousand pounds, but I wouldn't look at it. I can retire any day now."
"From business. Making money is business, and I'm making it like the Mint."
"Did you really get two hundred pounds this morning?"
"Look at this, if you can't believe me," George replied, showing her the bank book. "It's nothing--just a flea bite--what the French call a game of bagatelle. Still it would give many an honest soul a start in life."
"You had better lend the money to your cousin," suggested Nellie.
"I'd let it perish first," cried George. "Whatever made you think of such a thing?"
"Mr. Taverner wrote to Miss Sophy this morning--she shows me all her letters now--and asked her to lend him two hundred pounds, as he had suddenly discovered another mortgage he had forgotten to pay off."
"The fellow's a ruffian!" exclaimed George, not without some admiration for Percy's methods of finance, which compared favourably with his own.