Pine laughed in a raucous manner. "An elopement would have taken place long ago had it been intended," he snapped tartly. "Don't imagine impossibilities, Mark. Agnes married me for my money, so that I might save the credit of the Lambert family. But for me, Garvington would have passed through the Bankruptcy Court long ago. I have paid off certain mortgages, but I hold them as security for my wife's good behavior. She knows that an elopement with her cousin would mean the ruin of her brother."
"You do, indeed, trust her," observed Silver sarcastically.
"I trust her so far and no further," repeated Pine with an angry snarl. "A Gentile she is, and Gentiles are tricky." He stretched out a slim, brown hand significantly and opened it. "I hold her and Garvington there," and he tapped the palm lightly.
"You don't hold Lambert, and he is the dangerous one."
"Only dangerous if Agnes consents to run away with him, and she won't do that," replied Pine coolly.
"Well, she certainly doesn't care for money."
"She cares for the credit of her family, and gave herself to me, so that the same might be saved."
Silver shrugged his narrow shoulders. "What fools these aristocrats are," he observed pleasantly. "Even if Garvington were sold up he would still have his title and enough to live on in a quiet way."
"Probably. But it was not entirely to save his estates that he agreed to my marriage with his sister," said Pine pointedly and quietly.
"Eh! What?" The little man's foxy face became alive with eager inquiry.