"What's the matter now?"
"Oh, these infernal fellows are putting on the screw--lawyer's letters, writs, and all that rascally machinery; and I don't see a chance of staving them off. If I could have said any thing about a rich marriage now--"
"That's exactly what I was coming to. How about Saxe-Coburg Square?"
"Well, fishy, very fishy. I've called there three times; the last time sending in specially and particularly to say that I wanted to speak to her; and still the same answer--compliments--not kind regards, you know--compliments, and utterly unable to see me. No hint of a future opportunity--nothing!"
"That looks badly, certainly. What do you intend to do?"
"Do! Go there again. Have it out by hook or by crook. By Jove, I will see her! I'll remind her that--"
"Doesn't this strike you as devilish low behaviour? Don't you see that to thrust yourself in where you are evidently not wanted, to break in upon the privacy of a lady, who is in the beginning of her first great sorrow--"
"Oh, drop that, please. Doesn't it strike you that I owe you nearly nine hundred pounds, and other people a great deal more; and that if they're not paid, I shall be arrested and sold up? And don't you see, therefore, that I must--No, by Jove! I don't see why I should; you're quite right; it is an ungentlemanly business, and I'm sick of all this dodging and duffing and forcing myself down the throat of a woman whose liking for me seems to have gone off. But there's one who would still seem to care about me, Simnel, my boy, I'll wager any money; and one whom I've been a fool not to think of before--Kate Mellon!"
385
"Kate Mellon?" echoed Mr. Simnel with scowling brows.