Happily, the
secretaries of insurance offices know very little about the poets,
unless, indeed, Miss Halliday were to go to the Royal Widow's and
Orphan's Hope, the secretary of which is the author of dramas that may
fairly rank with the works of Knowles and Lytton."
Mr. Greenwood, an elderly gentleman of the ponderous and port-wine
school, laughed at his own small jokes, and took things altogether
pleasantly. He gave Mr. Sheldon a letter of introduction to the secretary
of his pet insurance company, the value of which to that gentleman was
considerable. Nor was this the only advantage derived from the interview.
The lawyer's approval of the transaction reassured Charlotte; and though
she had heard her own views somewhat misrepresented, she felt that an
operation which appeared wise in the sight of such a lawyer, standing on
such a Turkey hearthrug, commanding such gentlemanly-looking clerks as
those who came and went at Mr. Greenwood's bidding, must inevitably be a
proceeding at once prudent and proper.
The business of the insurance was not quite so easy as the interview with
the lawyer. The doctor to whom Miss Halliday was introduced seemed very
well satisfied with that young lady's appearance of health and spirits,
but in a subsequent interview with Mr. Sheldon asked several questions,
and shook his head gravely when told that her father had died at
thirty-seven years of age.
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