Then he laughed again.
“I’m a greedy brute,” he said, “but there are limits. Take it back quick, or it will grow on to my fingers. You are a lucky chap.”
“Ten pounds?” said David incredulously.
“I should think about that, but I don’t really know I’m not in the habit of buying second editions of Keats. Let’s look again a minute; I’ll try to give it you back. Yes, it’s quite complete.”
Suddenly David remembered that the find was not his but Margery’s.
“I bang forgot,” he said. “Margery, you found it. Congrats.”
For a moment his face grew troubled.
“And I offered it you, not remembering,” he said to Maddox. “I really did mean it. Do take it. Margery, you understand, don’t you?”
Maddox laid his hand on David’s shoulder and looked at him.
“It’s quite ripping of you, David,” he said (and at that moment David loved his Christian name), “but whether it’s your sister’s or yours, I couldn’t possibly. But thanks, most awfully.”