They say that prosperity makes a man
selfish. I have never tried that, but I am quite sure that
adversity does so. Nevertheless I am anxious about those
bills of yours--
"Bills of mine!" said Robarts to himself, as he walked up and down
the shrubbery path at the parsonage, reading this letter. This
happened a day or two after his visit to the lawyer at Barchester.
--and would rejoice greatly if I thought that I could save
you from any further annoyance about them. That kite, Tom
Tozer, has just been with me, and insists that both of
them shall be paid. He knows--no one better--that no
consideration was given for the latter. But he knows also
that the dealing was not with him, nor even with his
brother, and he will be prepared to swear that he gave
value for both. He would swear anything for five hundred
pounds--or for half the money, for that matter. I do not
think that the father of mischief ever let loose upon the
world a greater rascal than Tom Tozer.
He declares that nothing shall induce him to take one
shilling less than the whole sum of nine hundred pounds.
He has been brought to this by hearing that my debts are
about to be paid. Heaven help me! The meaning of that is
that these wretched acres, which are now mortgaged to
one millionaire, are to change hands and be mortgaged to
another instead.
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