"I think you ought to run to a thousand, Mr. Mead. A thousand's not much for—"
"Doing what you're doing? No, it's damned little," said Ashley Mead.
"Give him the money, Ashley," said Bowdon from the window.
"All right, I'll give it you when I see you on board. Mind you hold your tongue while you're here!"
Jack was smiling happily; he seemed like a man who has brought off a great coup which was almost beyond his hopes, in which, at least, he had never expected to succeed so readily and easily. Looking at him, Ashley could not doubt that if he and Bowdon had not furnished means for the "little spec" Ora Pinsent would have been asked to supply them.
"I shall be very glad to go back. I never wanted to come. I didn't want to bother Miss Pinsent. I've my own friends." There was a sort of bravado about him now. "Somebody'll be glad to see me, anyhow," he ended with a laugh.
"No doubt," said Ashley Mead; his tone was civil; he loathed Mr. Fenning more and more, but it was not the moment for him to get on moral stilts. Bowdon was as though he had become unconscious of Jack's proximity.
"There's a boat to-morrow; I'll try for a passage on that."
"The sooner the better," Ashley said.
"Yes, the sooner the better," said Fenning. He looked doubtfully at the two men and glanced across to a decanter of whiskey which stood on a side table.