‘You don’t have to pretend with me. I want to help you.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said irritably. ‘I don’t need anyone’s help.’
‘You’re broke,’ she said calmly, and put her hand on his. ‘Already the tradesmen are talking about you. You owe thousands. Whatever money you did have, you’ve spent. Isn’t it time you did something about it?’
He had been so shocked that he had said nothing for some moments. True, he had immediately begun to bluster, but the expression in her eyes told him she was sure of her ground, and the bluster died sourly in his mouth. Instead, he tried to defend himself, though why he should make excuses to her he couldn’t imagine. After all, it was no business of hers. He could have told her to pack up and get out if she didn’t like him as she found him. But deep down, tucked away in his innermost being, Kile was afraid. He knew he was slipping. He knew unless a miracle happened, the slip would turn into a slide, and he would go down and down to the final crash where a revolver bullet would be his only way out.
There was something about this girl — not yet twenty-five, very beautiful to look at, detached and quietly determined — that gave him a sudden feeling of hope: something he hadn’t had for the past two years: not since they had told him to get out of the Stock Market or they’d prosecute.
He told her he hadn’t been feeling wel .
‘It’s not that I’m a young man,’ he said lamely. ‘Perhaps I’ve lived too hard. I’m burned out, Eve. Not for long, but right now, I’m tired and disillusioned. In a little while I’l begin again. I just want to rest.’
He could see at once she didn’t believe him, although she gave him a sympathetic smile.
‘I think I can help you,’ she said. ‘Something I happened to overhear…’
That was how he had been committed to this Rajah business. At first he had thought she was joking.