It was a part of the charm of all dealings with this great man that no ready money seemed ever to be necessary for anything. Great purchases were made and great transactions apparently completed without the signing even of a cheque. Mr. Longestaffe found himself to be afraid even to give a hint to Mr. Melmotte about ready money. In speaking of all such matters Melmotte seemed to imply that everything necessary had been done, when he had said that it was done. Pickering had been purchased and the title-deeds made over to Mr. Melmotte; but the 80,000 had not been paid,--had not been absolutely paid, though of course Mr. Melmotte's note assenting to the terms was security sufficient for any reasonable man. The property had been mortgaged, though not heavily, and Mr. Melmotte had no doubt satisfied the mortgagee; but there was still a sum of 50,000 to come, of which Dolly was to have one half and the other was to be employed in paying off Mr. Longestaffe's debts to tradesmen and debts to the bank. It would have been very pleasant to have had this at once,--but Mr. Longestaffe felt the absurdity of pressing such a man as Mr. Melmotte, and was partly conscious of the gradual consummation of a new ra in money matters. "If your banker is pressing you, refer him to me," Mr. Melmotte had said. As for many years past we have exchanged paper instead of actual money for our commodities, so now it seemed that, under the new Melmotte rgime, an exchange of words was to suffice.

It was a part of the charm of all dealings with this great man that no ready money seemed ever to be necessary for anything. Great transactions were apparently completed without the signing even of a cheque. Mr. Longestaffe was afraid even to give a hint to Mr. Melmotte about ready money. Pickering had been purchased and the title-deeds made over to Mr. Melmotte; but the 80,000 had not been paid, though of course Mr. Melmotte's note assenting to the terms was security sufficient for any reasonable man. The property had been mortgaged, but there was still a sum of 50,000 to come, of which Dolly was to have one half and the other was to be used in paying off Mr. Longestaffe's debts. It would have been very pleasant to have had this at once - but Mr. Longestaffe felt the absurdity of pressing such a man as Mr. Melmotte.
