“Mortgaged up to the hilt. Speaking of hilts—� he stooped down and daintily avoiding contact with the corpse, drew from the scabbard the diamond-hilted sword—“this belongs to me. It’s worth taking. You remember he staked it last night on the last deal.�
“Good God, man,� protested the first speaker, “don’t take the man’s sword away. Let him lie with his weapons like a gentleman.�
“Tut, tut, you grow scrupulous, it seems. We will provide him a cheaper badge of his knighthood, if necessary,� returned the other lightly.
“And about the girl?�
“’Tis all off.�
“You will have some trouble breaking your engagement with her, I am thinking.�
“Not I. To do her justice, the wench has the spirit of her father. A whisper that I am—er—disinclined to the match will be quite sufficient.�
“Aye, but who will give her that whisper?�
“We will arrange that some way. Truth to tell, I am rather tired of the minx, she bores me with her high airs. She does not know that she is penniless and disgraced. And as for her good looks—’tis a country beauty after all.�
“Poor girl—� began Luftdon, whose face, though bloated and flushed and seamed with the outward and visible evidences of his evil life, still showed some signs of human kindness.