‘I am at your service now, sir,’ said De Blacquaire.
‘Shall we go down?’ asked the General. ‘One tires easily still, and this May wind gets into an old man’s head like wine.’
‘And into a young man’s, too,’ said De Blacquaire. ‘I am half tipsy with it, and shall be glad to get into shelter.’
‘We’ll see you at breakfast, Polson,’ said the General, ‘and until then, good-bye.’
The two men reached the General’s cabin and sat down together.
‘When we touched at Corfu,’ said the General, ‘I found a letter from my London agents—I’d like you to see it, and I shall be glad if you can confirm its contents, or at least a part of them.’
De Blacquaire took the proffered letter and read:
‘Sir,—: We are instructed to inform you that a sum of fifty thousand pounds has been deposited with us to your credit by Mr. John Jervase, of Beacon Hargate. Mr. Jervase requests us in communicating with you to say that a further sum of one hundred thousand pounds, making in all one hundred and fifty thousand, has been deposited by him in the interest of Major de Blacquaire with that gentleman’s agents. We are desired to add further that Mr. Jervase has joined his brother in South America, that he proposes to establish business relations there, and does not intend to return to England. We are, sir, your obedient humble servants, E. A. Cox & Co.’
‘Except,’ said De Blacquaire, ‘that the sums mentioned here are reversed in order, I have a letter identical in terms. The old scoundrel has bled very freely.’
‘And there’s no vendetta?’ said the General, smiling.