Boreski scrutinized the papers carefully, and presently I saw him start and lay one aside. I wondered if he could have discovered any forgery among them.
“There is one grave point here, and one of less importance,” he said at length; and putting the papers together he handed them back to me, with the draft for the money on the top. “This draft is dated three days hence.”
I took them and went back to my seat.
“The reason is obvious. This is in the nature of a dowry, and as such will be paid on your marriage, and not before it.”
“With all submission, I cannot so regard it, and I cannot accept the draft as complying with the agreement.”
It was just the hitch I had foreseen and pointed out to old Kalkov; but how to get over it I did not see.
“And the point of minor importance; what is that?”
“The consent to the marriage is dated, and if a date is to remain, it should be that of a week or a month ago.”
“Why?”
At the quick question he looked across at Helga, who shrugged her shoulders.