In less than half an hour the man started, and listened with the vigilance of a house-dog. A latch-key turned in the street-door, and Mr. Ross came in. He stopped on seeing the pawnbroker, and asked sharply what he waited for? then checked himself, and muttered,
“Ah! I remember. You want the reward. How much was it?”
The man started up, and began to speak eagerly. But Ross lifted his hand.
“The amount?—name it. I ask nothing more; that which I promised you shall have.”
“Without regard to the price paid by the lady?”
“Without regard to anything. I am not disposed to cavil over a thing like this.”
The pawnbroker paused, calculated, and looked keenly at his victim, sorely tempted to double the original sum promised him. But there was something in the eyes fixed upon him which checked the idea, and he named what had been his most exorbitant demand.
“Wait!”
With this single word, Ross went swiftly upstairs, and came down again with a check in his hand. The man started up, seized the paper, glanced over it, and hurried from the house, with a greedy light in his eyes.
Ross turned into the reception-room, stood a moment on the threshold, pale, trembling, and with a look of wild yearning in his eyes. Eva, came toward him, smiling.