BOOK THE THIRD: A LONG LANE
Chapter 13: Give a Dog a Bad Name, and Hang Him (continued)
With these words, which had the effect of causing the harmless
Twemlow painful agitation, Mr Fledgeby withdrew to his former
post, and the old man entered the counting-house.
'Why, Mr Riah,' said Fledgeby, 'I thought you were lost!'
The old man, glancing at the stranger, stood stock-still. He
perceived that his master was leading up to the orders he was to
take, and he waited to understand them.
'I really thought,' repeated Fledgeby slowly, 'that you were lost, Mr
Riah. Why, now I look at you--but no, you can't have done it; no,
you can't have done it!'
Hat in hand, the old man lifted his head, and looked distressfully at
Fledgeby as seeking to know what new moral burden he was to
bear.
'You can't have rushed out to get the start of everybody else, and
put in that bill of sale at Lammle's?' said Fledgeby. 'Say you
haven't, Mr Riah.'
'Sir, I have,' replied the old man in a low voice.
'Oh my eye!' cried Fledgeby. 'Tut, tut, tut! Dear, dear, dear! Well!
I knew you were a hard customer, Mr Riah, but I never thought
you were as hard as that.'
'Sir,' said the old man, with great uneasiness, 'I do as I am
directed. I am not the principal here. I am but the agent of a
superior, and I have no choice, no power.'
'Don't say so,' retorted Fledgeby, secretly exultant as the old man
stretched out his hands, with a shrinking action of defending
himself against the sharp construction of the two observers. 'Don't
play the tune of the trade, Mr Riah. You've a right to get in your
debts, if you're determined to do it, but don't pretend what every
one in your line regularly pretends. At least, don't do it to me.
Why should you, Mr Riah? You know I know all about you.'
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