“He repaid it not himself, then?”
“Himself, nay—he sent it to me; but I gave the quittance as to Mr Louvaine.”
“I thank you, Mr Rookwood. Then that ends the matter.”
Out of the Golden Fish, and into the White Bear, ran Temperance, with drops of rain lying on her gown and hood.
“Madam,” she announced in a stern voice, “I am that flabbergasted as never was! Here’s Mr Tom Rookwood saith that Aubrey paid him his money a month gone.”
“Why, Aubrey told me this afternoon that he owed him twenty pounds,” replied Edith in a tone of astonished perplexity.
“Hans, what meaneth this?”
“Methinks, Madam, it means merely that I told you the truth. Mr Rookwood, you see, bears me out.”
“He saith Aubrey sent the money by a messenger, unto whom he gave the quittance. Dear heart, but if he lost it!”
“Yet Aubrey must have known, if he sent the money,” said Edith in the same tone as before.