 bestow a fragment of our minds upon
you, sir, you see!«
    Mr. Tulkinghorn, comprehending it, inclines his head, and says he is much
obliged.
    »I should have come down sooner,« he explains, »but that I have been much
engaged with those matters in the several suits between yourself and Boythorn.«
    »A man of a very ill-regulated mind,« observes Sir Leicester, with severity.
»An extremely dangerous person in any community. A man of a very low character
of mind.«
    »He is obstinate,« says Mr. Tulkinghorn.
    »It is natural to such a man to be so,« says Sir Leicester, looking most
profoundly obstinate himself. »I am not at all surprised to hear it.«
    »The only question is,« pursues the lawyer, »whether you will give up
anything.«
    »No, sir,« replies Sir Leicester. »Nothing. I give up?«
    »I don't mean anything of importance. That, of course, I know you would not
abandon. I mean any minor point.«
    »Mr. Tulkinghorn,« returns Sir Leicester, »there can be no minor point
between myself and Mr. Boythorn. If I go farther, and observe that I cannot
readily conceive how any right of mine can be a minor point, I speak not so much
in reference to myself as an individual, as in reference to the family position
I have it in charge to maintain.«
    Mr. Tulkinghorn inclines his head again. »I have now my instructions,« he
says. »Mr. Boythorn will give us a good deal of trouble -«
    »It is the character of such a mind, Mr. Tulkinghorn,« Sir Leicester
interrupts him, »to give trouble. An exceedingly ill-conditioned, levelling
person. A person who, fifty years ago, would probably have been tried at the Old
Bailey for some demagogue proceeding, and severely punished - if not,« adds Sir
Leicester, after a moment's pause, »if not hanged, drawn, and quartered.«
    Sir Leicester appears to discharge his stately breast of a burden, in
passing this capital sentence; as if it were the next satisfactory thing to
having the sentence executed.
    »But night is coming on,« says he, »and my Lady will take cold. My dear, let
us go in.«
    As they turn towards the hall-door, Lady Dedlock addresses Mr. Tulkinghorn
for the first time.
    »You sent me a message respecting
