The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900 ... - Gredos

The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900)
“There is another matter even more important. Have you any purchaser in view for the
Charnleigh property?”
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"Pooh, lad! you talk as foolishly as the Squire. Do you suppose a purchaser with twentysix
thousand pounds in his pocket is to be picked up at a moment's notice? Purchaser
indeed! I am in no hurry to find him — some Liverpool counter-jumper, I suppose.
There'll be pretty times for us all when we have a fellow of that kind lording it over us.
Nay, nay; give me the old stock — with all the Squire's faults I shall be sorry when he is
no longer master."
"Mr. Renshaw," said Simon very seriously, "do you know what you must do? You must
buy the property yourself."
"Well, upon my word, you're a cool hand," ejaculated the old lawyer, so much taken
aback that he forgot to be angry. "I think you've lost your senses."
"Wait a bit; you will understand in a minute. You will lose nothing by the venture, for
you shall be paid back immediately."
“Eh?" cried the lawyer, throwing himself back in his chair. “’Pon my life, Simon, I
cannot be a party to such a piece of foolery. No, positively I refuse; gad, the Squire
would never forgive me if he found out how he'd been humbugged. What, man, you
propose to pay yourself with your own money, and throw away ten thousands pounds
over and above, as a sop in the pan for Master Humphrey to play ducks and drakes
with?"
The little old man's blue eyes appeared ready to jump out of his head with excitement;
his wits seemed nearly as much muddled as his metaphors.
Simon winced, and drew a long breath.
"I had forgotten him," he said in a low voice.
“The young man has not forgotten himself, though. Besides his attachment to his
cousin, which I believe he avowed openly to the Squire yesterday — yes, indeed,
Simon, there's more than you, aye, and that fine fellow
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