“Mr. Tresco!”
“But to get you to pay. I want a little additional loan.”
“Impossible, absolutely impossible, Tresco.”
“Owing to losses over an unfortunate investment, I find myself in immediate need of £150. If that amount is not forthcoming, I fear my brilliant future will become clouded and your rent will remain unpaid indefinitely.”
The fat man laughed wheezily.
“That’s very good,” he said. “You borrow from me to pay my rent. A very original idea, Tresco; but don’t you think it would be as well as to borrow from some one else—Varnhagen, for instance?”
“The Jews, Mr. Crookenden; I always try to avoid the Jews. To go to the Jews means to go to the dogs. Keep me from the hands of the Jews, I beg.”
“But how would you propose to repay me?”
“By assiduous application to business, sir.”
“Indeed. Then what have you been doing all this while?”