“But this will be a hard and rather public proceeding.”
“I don’t know about hard, and as to public, no one will know about it but we three, for old Gemp will not smell it out. He is down with the effects of a bad seizure, and not likely to leave his bed for days.”
“But, Thickens—”
“Mr Bayle, I am more of a business man than you, so trust me. You are making sacrifice enough, and are not called upon to study the feelings of one of the greatest scoundrels—”
“Oh! hush! hush!”
“I say it again, sir—one of the greatest scoundrels that ever drew breath.”
Bayle frowned, and drew his own hard.
“I don’t know,” he said, “that I shall care to carry this money—so large a sum.”
“Nonsense, sir, a packet of notes in a pocket-book. These things are comparative. When I was a boy I can remember thinking ninepence a large amount; now I stand on a market day shovelling out gold and fingering over greasy notes and cheques, till I don’t seem to know what a large sum is. You take my advice, go and get it without saying a word to Hallam; and I tell you what it is, sir, if it wasn’t for poor Mrs Hallam and that poor child, I should be off my bargain, and go to Sir Gordon at once.”
“I will go and get the money without Hallam, Thickens; but as I undertook to go with him, I shall write and tell him I have gone.”