Excerpt from The Amateur Gentleman John Barty, ex-champion of England and landlord of the "Coursing Hound," sat screwed round in his chair with his eyes yet turned to the door that had closed after the departing lawyer fully five minutes ago, and his eyes were wide and blank, and his mouth (grim and close-lipped as a rule) gaped, becoming aware of which, he closed it with a snap, and passed a great knotted fist across his brow. "Barnabas," said he slowly, "I beant asleep an' dreaming be I, Barnabas?" "No, father!" "But - seven - 'undred - thousand - pound. It were seven - 'undred thousand pound, were n't it, Barnabas?" "Yes, father!" "Seven - 'undred - thou - ! No! I can't believe it, Barnabas my bye." "Neither can I, father," said Barnabas, still staring down at the papers which littered the table before him. "Nor I are n't a-going to try to believe it, Barnabas." "And yet - here it is, all written down in black and white, and you heard what Mr. Crabtree said?" "Ah, - I heered, but arter all Crabtree's only a lawyer - though a good un as lawyers go, always been honest an' square wi' me - leastways I've never caught him trying to bamboozle John Barty yet - an' what the eye don't ob-serve the heart don't grieve, Barnabas my bye, an there y' are. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.