‘Surely,’ I said, ‘you do not mind letting me know so much.’ ‘But I do mind,’ he answered. ‘The affairs of their clients are absolutely safe in the hands of Mitchell, Sons, & Candy.’ Th is was manifestly a prig of the first water, and there was no use arguing with him. I thought I had best meet him on his own ground, so I said, ‘Your clients, sir, are happy in having so resolute a guardian of their confidence. I am myself a professional man.’ Here I handed him my card. ‘In this instance I am not prompted by curiosity, I act on the part of Lord Godalming, who wishes to know something of the property which was, he understood, lately for sale.’ These words put a different complexion on affairs. He said, ‘I would like to oblige you if I could, Mr. Harker, and especially would I like to oblige
