"Did the
half-pay Captain teach her that, I wonder? or does church-going, and
psalm-singing, and Bible-reading come natural to all women? I know my
mother was good at it, and my wife too. She used to fly to her Bible as a
man flies to dram-drinking, or his pipe, when things go wrong."
He got tired of his cigar at last, and went out into the shop, where he
began to question Mr. Tulliver as to the extent and value of the
stock-in-trade, and upon other details of the business; to all of which
inquiries the shopman replied in a suspicious and grudging spirit, giving
his questioner the smallest possible amount of information.
"You're an uncommonly cautious young man," Mr. Nowell exclaimed at last.
"You'll never stand in your own light by being too anxious to oblige
other people. I daresay, though, you could speak fast enough, if it was
made worth your while."
"I don't see what is to make it worth my while," Luke Tulliver answered
coolly. "My duty is to my dead master, and those that are to come after
him. I don't want strangers coming sniffing and prying into the stock.
Mr. Nowell's books were kept so that I couldn't cheat him out of a
sixpence, or the value of a sixpence; and I mean to hand 'em over to the
lawyer in a manner that will do me credit. My master has not been a
generous master to me, considering how I've served him, and I've got
nothing but my character to look to; but that I have got, and I don't
want it tampered with.
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