“That will be every day, and I shall not go to country houses at all. The more I think of it the more I feel convinced that I should pass this August. My brother has never believed in me,—for good reasons, wise man,—but I have an idea that if I astonish him by passing a year sooner than any one expects, he will be so gratified that he will pay my debts. After all, he stands in the place of my father.”
“Are you deeply in debt?” All women sympathize with a man in debt except his wife, who must economize to get him out.
“Horribly!” Ordham buttered a scone and looked as blithe and greedy as a schoolboy on his first day at home.
“You always use such strong expressions!”
“O—h! Re—ally?” Ordham drawled this as only an Englishman can. “Well—perhaps you would not think close upon a thousand pounds a great amount, and I confess I find it disgusting to be unable to pay a sum which if I had in hand would not last me a month. And to Bridgminster it is nothing. I find that more disgusting still.”
“I suggested an American girl the other night—but I don’t know. Somehow, I don’t see you married.”
“I should hate to marry. My mother is always urging it—so are all my friends, and I suppose that between extravagant habits and the diplomatic career, I shall be driven into matrimony. But I wish to heaven Bridgminster would divide his income with me. He spends next to nothing. I hear he doesn’t even keep up Ordham.”
“Do you want money so much?”
“I need it.” He spoke with deep intensity.
“And you can think of no other resource but your brother or a rich girl?”