It was of vital consequence to Mr. Sowerby that this
business of his should be settled without delay, and yet these men,
to whose care this settling was now confided, went on as though law
processes were a sunny bank on which it delighted men to bask easily.
And then, too, he had to go more than once to South Audley Street,
which was a worse infliction; for the men in South Audley Street
were less civil now than had been their wont. It was well understood
there that Mr. Sowerby was no longer a client of the duke's, but
his opponent; no longer his nominee and dependant, but his enemy in
the county. "Chaldicotes," as old Mr. Gumption remarked to young Mr.
Gazebee; "Chaldicotes, Gazebee, is a cooked goose, as far as Sowerby
is concerned. And what difference could it make to him whether the
duke is to own it or Miss Dunstable? For my part I cannot understand
how a gentleman like Sowerby can like to see his property go into the
hands of a gallipot wench whose money still smells of bad drugs. And
nothing can be more ungrateful," he said, "than Sowerby's conduct. He
has held the county for five-and-twenty years without expense; and
now that the time for payment has come, he begrudges the price." He
called it no better than cheating, he did not--he, Mr.
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