Barry said, would be very well able to pay for what he wanted. It was
necessary that the firm should protect themselves against the
vindictiveness of Mr. Tyrrwhit and Samuel Hart. Should the firm fail to
do so, it would leave itself open to all manner of evil calumnies. The
firm had been so long employed on behalf of the Scarboroughs that now,
when the old squire was dead, it could not afford to relinquish the
business till this final great question had been settled. It was
necessary, as Mr. Barry said, that they should see it out, Mr. Barry
taking a much more leading part in these discussions than had been his
wont. Consequently Mr. Grey had told him that he might do it himself,
and Mr. Barry had been quite contented. Mr. Barry, in talking the matter
over with one of the clerks, whom he afterward took into partnership,
expressed his opinion that "poor old Grey was altogether off the hooks."
"Old Grey" had always been Mr. Grey when spoken of by Mr. Barry till
that day, and the clerk remarking this, left Mr. Grey's bell unanswered
for three or four minutes. Mr. Grey, though he was quite willing to
shelf himself, understood it all, and knocked them about in the chambers
that afternoon with unwonted severity. He said nothing about it when he
came home that evening: but the next day was the last on which he took
his accustomed chair.
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