“ I hear, too, you have bought this borough, my dear sir. I could not make it convenient just at this particular moment to conclude my own arrangement—but it is a good thing. Three hundred and twenty thousand, I suppose, as was mentioned between me and the other party?”
“ Three hundred and twenty-five thousand, Lord Pledge.”
I perceived by the countenance of the noble candidate that I had paid the odd five thousand as a fine—a circumstance which accounted for the promptitude of the attorney in the transaction, he most probably pocketing the difference himself.
“ You mean to sit, of course?”
“ I do, my lord, as one of the members, at the next general election; but at present I shall be most happy to aid your return.”
“ My dear Mr. Goldencalf—”
“ Really, without presuming t
