“Oh, you’re not alone in that opinion, old man,” laughed the other. “But, look here, when is Foss going to get you up again?”
“Never. He swears I’ll be a stiff before morning, and for once I believe him—though these quacks are the most infernal set of humbugs, as a rule. Now, Haldane, do me a favour, like a good chap, and skip downstairs for a little while. I want to hold a bit of an indaba with Wagram alone.”
“Right. So long, then.”
There was a moment or two of silence after the door had closed on Haldane. Then Hunt said:
“Well, you heard all that?”
“Yes; it is true, then?”
“Every word of it. I’m glad you heard, because it’ll save me the trouble of going over it all again.”
“Then you obtained thirty thousand pounds out of us under false pretences?”
“That’s one way of putting it, but I suppose it’s the correct one. The thing was a gamble; but, hang it, I didn’t think the money side would have bothered you over-much, Wagram. Why, as I said before, it’s only like a half-crown to you. Haldane and I have brought off bigger things than that in the old Kimberley days.”
Wagram stiffened.