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 'Like melted diamonds,' said Mrs. Moulder, who was not without a touch of poetry.

'Ah, there's nothing like hanging of 'em long enough, and watching of 'em well. It's that vinegar as done it;' and then they went seriously to work, and there was nothing more said of any importance until the eating was nearly over.

And now Mrs. M. had taken away the cloth, and they were sitting cozily over their port wine. The very apple of the eye of the evening had not arrived even yet. That would not come till the pipes were brought out, and the brandy was put on the table, and the whisky was there that made the people's hair stand on end. It was then that the floodgates of convivial eloquence would be unloosed. In the mean time it was necessary to sacrifice something to gentility, and therefore they sat over their port wine.

'Did you bring that letter with you, John?' said his sister. John replied that he had done so, and that he had also received another letter that morning from another party on the same subject.

'Do show it to Moulder, and ask him,' said Mrs. M.

'I've got 'em both on purpose,' said John; and then he brought forth two letters, and handed one of them to his brother-in-law. It contained a request, very civilly worded, from Messrs. Round and Crook, begging him to call at their office in Bedford Row on the earliest possible day, in order that they might have some conversation with him regarding the will of the late Sir Joseph Mason, who died in 18—.

'Why, this is law business,' said Moulder, who liked no business of that description. 'Don't you go near them, John, if you ain't obliged.'

And then Kenneby gave his explanation on the matter, telling how in former years,—many years ago, he had been a witness in a lawsuit. And then as he told it he sighed, remembering Miriam Usbech, for whose sake he had remained unmarried even to this day. And he went on to narrate how he had been bullied in the court, though he had valiantly striven to tell the truth with exactness; and as he spoke, an opinion of his became manifest that old Usbech had not signed the document in his presence. 'The girl signed it certainly,' said he, 'for I handed her the pen. I recollect it, as though it were yesterday.'

'They are the very people we were talking of at Leeds,' said Moulder, turning to Kantwise. 'Mason and Martock; don't you remember how you went out to Groby Park to sell some of them iron gimcracks? 'That was old Mason's son. They are the same people.'

'Ah, I shouldn't wonder,' said Kantwise, who was listening all the while. He never allowed intelligence of this kind to pass by him idly.