Page:Moonfleet - John Meade Falkner.pdf/99

 have no brawling here, the more so as this worshipful gentleman is a magistrate and something of a friend of mine." Yet Maskew refrained from sitting, but stood by the bailiff's chair, turning white, and not red, as he did with Mr. Glennie; and muttered something, that he had as lief stand as sit, and that it should soon be Block's turn to ask sitting-room of him.

I was wondering what possibly could have brought Maskew there, when the bailiff, who was ill at ease, said,—

"Come, Mr. Clerk, the pin hath but another minute's hold; rehearse what has been done, for I must get this lease delivered and off to Bridport, where much business waits."

So the clerk read in a sing-song voice that the property of the duchy of Cornwall called the Mohune Arms, an inn or tavern, with all its land, tenements, and appurtenances, situate in the Parish of St. Sebastian, Moonfleet, having been offered on lease for five years, would be let to Elzevir Block at a rent of £12 per annum, unless any one offered a higher rent before the pin fell from the candle.

There was no one to make another offer, and the bailiff said to Elzevir, "Tell them to have the horses round; the pin will be out in a minute, and 'twill save time." So Elzevir gave the order, and then we all stood round in silence, waiting for the pin to fall. The grease had burnt down to the mark, or almost below it, as it appeared; but just where the pin stuck in there was a little lump of harder tallow that held bravely out, refusing to be melted. The bailiff gave a stamp of impatience with his foot under the table, as though