"
"Very well, Captain Dodd. You wish it placed to Mrs. Dodd's account, I
suppose?"
"No! no! I have nothing to do with that: this is between you and me."
"As you please."
"Ye see it is a good lump, sir."
"Oh, indeed!" said Hardie a little sneeringly.
"I call it a thundering lot o' money. But I suppose it is not much to a
rich banker like you." Then he lowered his voice, and said with a certain
awe: "It's--fourteen--thousand pounds."
"Fourteen thousand pounds!!!" cried Hardie. Then with sudden and
consummate coolness, "Why, certainly an established bank like this deals
with more considerable deposits than that. Skinner, why don't you give
the Captain a chair?"
"No! no!" said Dodd. "I'll heave-to till I get this off my mind, but I
won't anchor anywhere but at home." He then opened the pocket-book and
spread the contents out before Mr. Hardie, who ran over the notes and
bills, and said the amount was L. 14,010, 12s. 6d.
Dodd asked for a receipt.
"Why, it is not usual when there is an account."
Dodd's countenance fell: "Oh, I should not like to part with it unless I
had a receipt.
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