then began very oracularly to nod his head in assent.

"A deal too busy, sir, if you take my opinion," he said.

This startled me much, and I asked hurriedly, "What do you mean?" without
reflecting that to ask for private information from a servant about my
father's habits was as bad as investigating into a stranger's affairs. It
did not strike me in the same light.

"Mr. Philip," said Morphew, "a thing 'as 'appened as 'appens more often
than it ought to. Master has got awful keen about money in his old age."

"That's a new thing for him," I said.

"No, sir, begging your pardon, it ain't a new thing. He was once
broke of it, and that wasn't easy done; but it's come back, if you'll
excuse me saying so. And I don't know as he'll ever be broke of it
again at his age."

I felt more disposed to be angry than disturbed by this. "You must be
making some ridiculous mistake," I said. "And if you were not so old a
friend as you are, Morphew, I should not have allowed my father to be so
spoken of to me."

The old man gave me a half-astonished, half-contemptuous look. "He's been
my master a deal longer than he's been your father," he said, turning on
his heel. The assumption was so comical that my anger could not stand in
face of it. I went out, having been on my way to the door when this
conversation occurred, and took my usual lounge about, which was not a
satisfactory sort of amusement. Its vanity and emptiness appeared to be