Page:The Light That Failed (1891).pdf/318

304 'That's sinful, sir,' said the housekeeper, alarmed.

'It's my own. One hundred or—'

'One hundred it is. It'll cost me three and six to get that there pilaster mended.'

'I thought so. What an out and out swindler you must have been to spring that price at once!'

'I hope I've done nothing to dissatisfy any of the tenants, least of all you, sir.'

'Never mind that. Get me the money tomorrow, and see that all my clothes are packed in the little brown bullock-trunk. I'm going.'

'But the quarter's notice?'

'I'll pay forfeit. Look after the packing and leave me alone.'

Mr. Beeton discussed this new departure with his wife, who decided that Bessie was at the bottom of it all. Her husband took a more charitable view.

'It's very sudden—but then he was always sudden in his ways. Listen to him now!'

There was a sound of chanting from Dick's room.