“No,” said Rich firmly, “I would sooner have lived on dry bread. This money, then, is part of some gambling transaction?”
“It isn’t.”
“Then how did you come by it?”
“Well, then, if you will have it, Poynter lent it to me.”
“Oh, Hendon, Hendon, has it come to this?” cried Richmond piteously.
“Yes, it has. What is a fellow to do? Home’s wretched; one never has a shilling. The guvnor’s mad over his essence, as he calls it, and I believe, if he saw us starve, he would smile and sigh.”
“No, no. He is so intent upon his discovery, that he does not realise our position.”
“His discovery! Bah! Lunacy! There isn’t a fellow at Guy’s who wouldn’t laugh at me if I told him what the guvnor does. Rich, old girl, I’m sick of it! It was madness for me to go through all this training, when I might have been earning money as porter or a clerk. Everything has been swallowed up in the fees. Why, if Jem Poynter hadn’t come forward like a man, and paid the last—”
“What?”
“Well, what are you shouting at?”