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 "Am I?" said the Honorable John Ruffin sharply.

"You are," said Mr. Montague Fitzgerald warmly.

"In that case you ought not to be in my rooms for a moment; and if you don't clear out this very instant, I'll kick you out," said the Honorable John Ruffin; and he made a step forward with such a stern light of resolution shining in his eyes that Mr. Montague Fitzgerald reached the door in a single bound and vanished through it.

"Ruffin by name and Ruffin by nature," he said as he came down the passage; and he pushed back his hat to wipe his warm and beaded brow with a large silk handkerchief of garish hue.

"I told you not to go and bother Mr. Ruffin before breakfast," said Pollyooly with unsympathetic severity. The money-lender scowled at her, and said ferociously, "I'll make him pay for it as sure as my name's Montague Fitzgerald!"

"I shouldn't think you will. Mr. Ruffin doesn't pay anything unless he wants to," said Pollyooly with an air of superior knowledge; and she laughed