Pagina 557 van 896

"And I am, in plain reality. The truth is, my dear Charles," Mr.

Lorry glanced at the distant House, and lowered his voice, "you

can have no conception of the difficulty with which our business

is transacted, and of the peril in which our books and papers

over yonder are involved. The Lord above knows what the

compromising consequences would be to numbers of people, if some

of our documents were seized or destroyed; and they might be, at

any time, you know, for who can say that Paris is not set afire

to-day, or sacked to-morrow! Now, a judicious selection from

these with the least possible delay, and the burying of them, or

otherwise getting of them out of harm's way, is within the power

(without loss of precious time) of scarcely any one but myself,

if any one. And shall I hang back, when Tellson's knows this and

says this--Tellson's, whose bread I have eaten these sixty

years--because I am a little stiff about the joints? Why, I am a

boy, sir, to half a dozen old codgers here!"