'
Prices were named; I forget now the exact sums, but enormous prices, I
thought, for the gun and the dogs, Fanny and Slut. The bargain was
eagerly concluded, and the money paid at once. Possibly the buyer had
a vague notion, that a portion of the vender's skill might come to him
with his purchases.
'You be in 'arnest, then, in this fool's business, James Dutton,'
observed a farmer gravely. 'I be sorry for thee; but as I s'pose the
lease of Ash Farm will be parted with; why---- John, waiter, tell
Master Hurst at the top of the table yonder, to come this way.'
Master Hurst, a well-to-do, highly respectable-looking, and rather
elderly man, came in obedience to the summons, and after a few words
in an under-tone with the friend that had sent for him, said: 'Is this
true, James Dutton?'
'It is true that the lease and stock of Ash Farm are to be sold--at a
price. You, I believe, are in want of such a concern for the young
couple, just married.'
'Well, I don't say I might not be a customer, if the price were
reasonable.'
'Let us step into a private room, then,' said Dutton rising. 'This is
not a place for business of that kind. Sharp,' he added, _sotto voce_,
'come with us; I may want you.'
I had listened to all this with a kind of stupid wonderment, and I
now, mechanically as it were, got up and accompanied the party to
another room.
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