It was with high good-humour that the pair sat down to the deal table, and proceeded to fall-to on the pork pie.  Morris retailed the discovery of the lid, and the Great Vance was pleased to applaud by beating on the table with his fork in true music-hall style.

‘That’s the dodge,’ he cried.  ’I always said a water-butt was what you wanted for this business.’

‘Of course,’ said Morris, thinking this a favourable opportunity to prepare his brother, ’of course you must stay on in this place till I give the word; I’ll give out that uncle is resting in the New Forest.  It would not do for both of us to appear in London; we could never conceal the absence of the old man.’

John’s jaw dropped.

‘O, come!’ he cried.  ‘You can stay in this hole yourself.  I won’t.’

The colour came into Morris’s cheeks.  He saw that he must win his brother at any cost.

‘You must please remember, Johnny,’ he said, ’the amount of the tontine.  If I succeed, we shall have each fifty thousand to place to our bank account; ay, and nearer sixty.’

‘But if you fail,’ returned John, ’what then?  What’ll be the colour of our bank account in that case?’

‘I will pay all expenses,’ said Morris, with an inward struggle; ’you shall lose nothing.’

‘Well,’ said John, with a laugh, ’if the ex-s are yours, and half-profits mine, I don’t mind remaining here for a couple of days.’

‘A couple of days!’ cried Morris, who was beginning to get angry and controlled himself with difficulty; ’why, you would do more to win five pounds on a horse-race!’

‘Perhaps I would,’ returned the Great Vance; ’it’s the artistic temperament.’

‘This is monstrous!’ burst out Morris.  ’I take all risks; I pay all expenses; I divide profits; and you won’t take the slightest pains to help me.  It’s not decent; it’s not honest; it’s not even kind.’

‘But suppose,’ objected John, who was considerably impressed by his brother’s vehemence, ’suppose that Uncle Masterman is alive after all, and lives ten years longer; must I rot here all that time?’

‘Of course not,’ responded Morris, in a more conciliatory tone; ’I only ask a month at the outside; and if Uncle Masterman is not dead by that time you can go abroad.’

‘Go abroad?’ repeated John eagerly.  ’Why shouldn’t I go at once?  Tell ‘em that Joseph and I are seeing life in Paris.’

‘Nonsense,’ said Morris.

‘Well, but look here,’ said John; ’it’s this house, it’s such a pig-sty, it’s so dreary and damp.  You said yourself that it was damp.’

‘Only to the carpenter,’ Morris distinguished, ’and that was to reduce the rent.  But really, you know, now we’re in it, I’ve seen worse.’

‘And what am I to do?’ complained the victim.  ’How can I entertain a friend?’

’My dear Johnny, if you don’t think the tontine worth a little trouble, say so, and I’ll give the business up.’