"We'll talk about this again," he said in a careless voice. "You seem to have got scrupulous since you went home. Is it a prudish girl's influence or your partner's?"
"My wife's, for the most part. If you take it for granted that I agree, it will clear the ground."
"Ah,"—said Rupert, frowning, "it looks as if I were foolish when I helped you to marry. Perhaps I forgot—it's long since I studied things from the white man's point of view and women don't count in the bush. They are toys and don't make rules for their lovers."
"Unless human nature's different in the jungle, I expect some do so," Marston remarked.
"Their end is generally sudden," said Rupert, with grim humor. Then he turned to Wyndham. "I promised to make you rich. Have I cheated you?"
"No. In a sense, you have kept your promise; but, for all that, I was cheated. My reward vanished when I got it."
Rupert gave him a mocking smile. "Sometimes it happens so, but this is your affair and we will not philosophize. You made a bargain and got the goods, for which you must pay."
"I'm willing to pay. We have brought a load of stuff that has a standard value in the bush. If this won't satisfy you, I've paid a sum to your account at my bank. You can draw it when you like."
"Neither plan will do. I don't want trade rubbish and money is not much use. I need the goods I expected you to bring. If you refuse to supply me, you miss a chance you will not get again."
"I'm not sure that to seize the chance would be a very sound speculation," Wyndham rejoined in a thoughtful voice.