``Surely,'' he thought, as, having finished his
communication, he was about to leave the apartment,
``surely the demons of Ambition and Avarice
will unclose the talons which they have fixed
upon this man, at a charm like this.''
And indeed Richard's heart had been formed of
the nether millstone, had he not been duly affected
by these first and last tokens of his mother's affection.
He leant his head upon a table, and his tears
flowed painfully. Hartley left him undisturbed
for more than an hour, and on his return found
him in nearly the same attitude in which he had
left him.
``I regret to disturb you at this moment,'' he
said, ``but I have still a part of my duty to discharge.
I must place in your possession the deposit
which your mother made in my hands---and
I must also remind you that time flies fast, and
that you have scarce an hour or two to determine
whether you will prosecute your Indian voyage,
under the new view of circumstances which I have
opened to you.''
Middlemas took the bills which his mother had
bequeathed him. As he raised his head, Hartley
could observe that his face was stained with tears.
Yet he I counted over the money with mercantile
accuracy; and though he assumed the pen for the
purpose of writing a discharge with an air of inconsolable
dejection, yet he drew it up in good set
terms, like one who had his senses much at his
command.
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