"Walk in, Mr. Sawley," said I, cheerfully. "What a long time it is
since I have had the pleasure of seeing you--too long indeed for brother
directors! How are Mrs. Sawley and Miss Selina? Won't you take a cup of
coffee?"
"Grass, sir, grass!" said Mr. Sawley, with a sigh like the groan of
a furnace-bellows. "We are all flowers of the oven--weak, erring
creatures, every one of us. Ah, Mr. Dunshunner, you have been a great
stranger at Lykewake Terrace!"
"Take a muffin, Mr. Sawley. Anything new in the railway world?"
"Ah, my dear sir,--my good Mr. Augustus Reginald,--I wanted to have some
serious conversation with you on that very point. I am afraid there is
something far wrong indeed in the present state of our stock."
"Why, to be sure it is high; but that, you know, is a token of the
public confidence in the line. After all, the rise is nothing compared
to that of several English railways; and individually, I suppose,
neither of us has any reason to complain."
"I don't like it," said Sawley, watching me over the margin of his
coffee-cup; "I don't like it. It savours too much of gambling for a man
of my habits.
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