"necessary expenses." Monsieur Montaine
proceeded on bis journey, and at the end of a
week sent a telegram to the office, to the effect
that the "operation" was a magnificent one
for us, and that he would be in London in forty
hours to lay before us the details of the affair,
and obtain our sanction for concluding the
business. By the next board-day he was in town,
.and at once proceeded to unfold the scheme,
which was to benefit alike those who lent and
those who borrowed.

The estates, he said, were worth half as much
again as they had been set down at; that is to
say, he, as a wine merchant, and knowing the
value of the wines the estates produced, estimated
them at ninety thousand pounds. They were
to be sold for sixty thousand, of which one-half
was ready to be paid down, and of which we
were to advance the other half; but only in our
acceptances, not in cash. And for our bills for
thirty thousand pounds, extending over twelve
months, we were to hold as security the title-
deeds of this magnificent estate. Our remuneration
for the acceptances was to be a net sum of
three thousand pounds, hard cash, paid in
advance. In short, we, the " HOUSE AND LAND
FINANCE AND CREDIT COMPANY (LIMITED),"
could not by possibility lose by the transaction.
If the bills we gave, were not paid at maturity
by the parties at Bordeaux, true we should have
to meet them, but had we not in hand ninety
thousand pounds' worth of property with which
to pay thirty thousand? However, to make
everything doubly sure, it would be as well to
depute our solicitor and another director to
proceed to Bordeaux with Monsieur Montaine,
and if they found everything as that gentleman
had represented, to give them full written and
vested powers from the board to complete the
whole transaction at once.

To Bordeaux, then, our deputation proceeded,
Monsieur Montaine being the only one of the
three who really understood French, though
the other two prided themselves on being able to
speak that language fluently, and to read it " as
well as English, sir." But there is a vast difference
between theory and practice. Our solicitor had
no doubt, at one time of his life, been able to ask
for what he wanted, in any restaurant in the Palais
Royal, or even to understand the greater part of
what was said on the stage during a French farce
at the St. James's Theatre. But many years of
exclusively professional life had caused him to
forget nearly all he had learnt in that wise, so that
now he could barely understand what was said in
ordinary conversation, even when those who
were talking spoke slowly and distinctly. But
no one could have offended this gentleman more
than by offering to interpret between him and a
Frenchman. It would nave annoyed him far
less to question his knowledge of law than his
acquaintance with French, though he was an
excellent solicitor of more than twenty-five
years' experience in a very good business.
The other director, who, with Monsieur Montaine
and our solicitor, formed our deputation to
Bordeaux, had no knowledge whatever of any
tongue save the English tongue, and depended
entirely on his two colleagues for "getting on."
The trip promised to be a pleasant one; the
season being July.

In due time—not without a three days'
sojourn among the pleasures of Paris—the details
of which halt were fortunately, for her peace of
mind, unknown to Madame Montaine, of "Silverton
Lodge, Surrey "—our colleagues reached
Bordeaux, where they found that a pleasant apartment
had, by the forethought of Monsieur
Montaine, been engaged for them at the Hôtel de
l'Empereur. There are many more unpleasant
places to live in than the capital of claret-land,
and our deputation did not pass their time
disagreeably. Moreover, Frenchmen mix business
and pleasure together, much more trhan is the
custom in this country. Thus, after rising at
eight o'clock, and while partaking of their morning
café au lait, our deputation would be visited
by two or three of the Bordeaux gentlemen who
were acting for the joint-stock company that
wished to purchase the estate, and that wanted
the advance to be made upon it by us. These
gentlemen would bring with them a few hard-to-
be understood, and, if possible, more difficult to
decipher, documents, which were invariably left
with Monsieur Montaine to read and go through
at his leisure. The French gentlemen would in
the mean time sit smoking, talking of the opera,
of the Italian question, or any subject that came
uppermost. Now and again, perhaps, there was
a reference made to the business that had brought
our friends all the way from London, but only in
a sketchy sort of way. The interview finished
by one or other of the French gentlemen asking
the three Englishmen to breakfast at some
excellent restaurant, where, over good cookery,
better wine, pleasant conversation, coffee and
cigars, three or four hours were consumed.
Now and again our deputation made a pretext of
looking into the business which had brought
them to Bordeaux; and on two, if not three
occasions, they made a great show of going
over the estate upon which the money had to be
advanced. But what with the distance—some
three leagues, or nine miles—from Bordeaux to
the estate, the great heat of the weather, the
excellence of the breakfasts, and the confusion
which the computation of French weights
produced in the heads of the solicitor and the other
director, these excursions always ended by two
out of the three of the deputation being in a far
greater muddle after they went to visit the
property than before. In short, after a time, the
real business, and the only business, of the
deputation, was done by the owner of " Silverton
Lodge, Surrey." A fortnight slipped away in
no time, and the deputation met together to
draw up a report; but after one or two
ineffectual attempts to compose anything
readable, the business ended in Monsieur
Montaine's being deputed to do it.

Monsieur Montaine, in twenty-four hours,
produced something between a letter and a report,
which was addressed to the London Board of
the " HOUSE AND LAND CREDIT AND FINANCE