"I don't like asking favours from family friends," he replied at length,
"and, as you said, I think it isn't quite my line. Though of course if
it has anything to do with the engineering possibilities, I shall be
most happy to see him," he added, brightening.
"I don't know what it has to do with; that is what I shall be obliged if
you will find out," answered Sir Robert with some asperity. "One can't
divide a matter of this sort into watertight compartments. It is
true that in so important a concern each of us has charge of his
own division, but the fact remains that we are jointly and severally
responsible for the whole. I am not sure that you bear this sufficiently
in mind, my dear Vernon," he added with slow emphasis.
His partner moved quickly; it might almost have been said that he
shivered, though whether the movement, or the shiver, was produced by
the argument of joint and several liability or by the familiarity of the
"my dear Vernon," remains uncertain. Perhaps it was the latter, since
although the elder man was a baronet and the younger only a retired
Major of Engineers, the gulf between them, as any one of discernment
could see, was wide.
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