"You see, Mr. Quatermain," he said, "it's just as well we had the row
which has been boiling up for a long while. My respected father has
made so much money that he thinks I should go and do likewise. Now I
don't see it. I like flowers, especially orchids, and I hate bullion-
broking. To me the only decent places in London are that sale-room
where we met and the Horticultural Gardens."
"Yes," I answered rather doubtfully, "but the matter seems a little
serious. Your parent was very emphatic as to his intentions, and after
this kind of thing," and I pointed to the beautiful silver and the
port, "how will you like roughing it in a hard world?"
"Don't think I shall mind a bit; it would be rather a pleasant change.
Also, even if my father doesn't alter his mind, as he may, for he
likes me at bottom because I resemble my dear mother, things ain't so
very bad. I have got some money that she left me, ?6,000 or ?7,000,
and I'll sell that 'Odontoglossum Pavo' for what it will fetch to Sir
Joshua Tredgold--he was the man with the long beard who you tell me
ran up Woodden to over ?2,000--or failing him to someone else.
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