"Not at all," replied Sikes coldly.
"Not to be done at all!" echoed the Jew, leaning back in his chair.
"No, not at all," rejoined Sikes; "at least it can't be a put-up job, as we expected."
"Then it hasn't been properly gone about," said the Jew, turning pale with anger. "Don't tell me."
"But I will tell you," retorted Sikes. "Who are you that's not to be told? I tell you that Toby Crackit has been hanging about the place for a fortnight, and he can't get one of the servants into a line."
"Do you mean to tell me, Bill," said the Jew, softening as the other grew heated, "that neither of the two men in the house can be got over?"
"Yes, I do mean to tell you so," replied Sikes. "The old lady has had 'em these twenty year; and, if you were to give 'em five hundred pound, they wouldn't be in it."
"But do you mean to say, my dear," remon-
