'I'm glad of that,' he said. 'Funny if you hadn't been. You'd have
wondered what on earth I was talking about.'
In spite of her identity, this was precisely what Elizabeth was
doing. Her mind, still under a cloud, had been unable to
understand one word of Mr Nichols's discourse. Judging from his
appearance, which was that of a bewildered hosepipe or a snake
whose brain is being momentarily overtaxed, Nutty was in the same
difficulty. He had joined the group at the gate, abandoning the
pebble which he had been kicking in the background, and was now
leaning on the top bar, a picture of silent perplexity.
'You see, the trouble is,' resumed the young man, 'my governor,
who's the head of the firm, is all for doing things according to
precedent. He loves red tape--wears it wrapped round him in winter
instead of flannel. He's all for doing things in the proper legal
way, which, as I dare say you know, takes months. And, meanwhile,
everybody's wondering what's happening and who has got the money,
and so on and so forth. I thought I would skip all that and let
you know right away exactly where you stood, so I wrote you that
letter. I don't think my temperament's quite suited to the law,
don't you know, and if he ever hears that I wrote you that letter
I have a notion that the governor will think so too.
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