“Did you make it out of the boarding-house?” I inquired incredulously.
He laughed deep down in his throat. “Not exactly. I received an envelope one morning; inside was a slip of paper on which was written ‘Compensation for a damaged character’ There was no address.”
“But there must have been more than that.”
“You bet. There was a banker’s draft. How much for? Guess.”
“Can’t guess.”
“Five thousand pounds.”
“Whoof! One of your charitable bigwigs sent it?”
“Not half. Came from Rapson. That’s what comes of sticking to your friends. That’s why I say that your Aunt wasn’t always wiser than the poor old knacker.”
“Mines?”
“So he said. He’s been to see me since then. The way your Aunt Lavinia treated him was as funny as a cock without feathers.—I always believed in Rapson.—He had a bad streak though.”