"I ... I could not. First of all, you had gone away, and then I was afraid...."
She broke off abruptly; he looked at her sharply, and again he laughed.
"You thought I would want payment," he said. "Well, you're right there. I have a good business instinct. I always like to get full value for what I spend, or what is taken from me."
At this juncture they had reached the gates of Yelverton Park, and Sir Samuel caught sight of a gardener. He hailed the man, gave the horse into his charge, and burdened him with all sorts of commands to the head-groom.
"I'll be round at the stables very shortly," he said.
Camilla had walked on, but he overtook her. Her white, drawn face seemed to give him a great deal of satisfaction.
"You don't offer to give me back the money, but I suppose that is what is in your mind," he said.
His half-bantering tone stung her like the lash of a whip; she was silent only because she could not speak.
"Well, my dear, you may as well put that out of your mind once and for all; that little piece of paper which you worked at so carefully is not to be redeemed by money."
He searched in his pockets, found his cigarette case, paused to strike a match on his heel, and began smoking without any pretence of courtesy.