"Well, you can have money, Tristram"—and now he was using the Christian name with a deliberate purpose—"you can have as much as you need. I tell you this country is like an unworked mine. I'm going to work it. I'm going to be as rich and powerful as the pioneers in South Africa. These Anglo-Indian officials treat India as though it was a sort of toy—a kind of game against heavy odds. There isn't a business man among them. I'm a business man. And I'll take you into partnership—a sleeping partner with a quarter share and nothing to do but to sleep hard. I swear to you that in a year or two you can marry any one you please—I tell you she's hard up——"
Tristram pulled Arabella to a standstill.
"Don't talk like that," he blazed out. "I don't want to think you a scoundrel. If there is any blood common to us both I don't want to loathe it. You've had rough luck—it doesn't need to make you a cad."
"Doesn't it? I'm not so sure. What do you expect me to do?"
"Throw up this slave-driving business. I'll stand by you. I'll see you through, Barclay—whatever one man can do for another I will do——"
"Will you? Will you come and live with me in Calcutta—with my people—the only people who won't treat me as though I were a nasty cross between a human being and an animal—blowsy, feckless, shiftless outcasts—will you? Well, you might—you're credited with queer things of that sort, but it would do for you. Your white blood wouldn't stand it. Nor will mine. I've got to get away from them. It's our father in me. But there's nowhere for me to go. I've got to make my world—make it in blood and sweat if needs must. When I've money enough to buy up Gaya, Gaya will accept me fast enough."
Tristram shook his head.
"You said just now that we behaved as though we were playing a big game," he said. "You may be right. And good sportsmen can't be bought."
"Can't they? Well, we'll see. Meantime, if there's a word of sincerity in all you've said, either come in with me or keep out of my way. I can make you a rich man, Tristram; don't forget that."
"You're asking me to visit the sins of your father and mine on to thousands of these luckless people."