It is the custom of my clients to take half in furniture." The Admiral sat in dire perplexity.

He had come out to get money, and to go back without any, to be powerless to help when his boy needed every shilling to save him from disaster, that would be very bitter to him.

On the other hand, it was so much that he surrendered, and so little that he received.

Little, and yet something.

Would it not be better than going back empty-handed?
He saw the yellow backed chequebook upon the table.