'I don't believe he's a gentleman as has good health.' 'Well, so the barrel's gone,' said Morris, half to himself.
'You may depend on that, sir,' returned the porter.

'But you had better see the superintendent.' 'Not in the least; it's of no account,' said Morris.

'It only contained specimens.' And he walked hastily away.
Ensconced once more in a hansom, he proceeded to reconsider his position.

Suppose (he thought), suppose he should accept defeat and declare his uncle's death at once?
He should lose the tontine, and with that the last hope of his seven thousand eight hundred pounds.

But on the other hand, since the shilling to the hansom cabman, he had begun to see that crime was expensive in its course, and, since the loss of the water-butt, that it was uncertain in its consequences.