“You already explained why. Besides, I’ve no object in taking them. As for you, why they are part yours already; and, besides, you need the money you can raise out of them to pay your debts.”
“I haven’t any debts, except to you.”
“So much the better for you,” answered Congreve, coolly. “You won’t have any one to pay except me.”
“I wish I’d never made your acquaintance,” said poor Philip.
“Very complimentary, upon my word!” replied Congreve, with a sneer. “It strikes me that you have got as much pleasure out of the acquaintance as I.”
“I haven’t got you into my debt.”
“It isn’t my fault if I am a better player at cards than you. However, that’s neither here nor there. I don’t propose to play any more with you. I ought not to have let you run up such a score. Just pay that off, and I won’t trouble you any more.”
“I’ve told you I can’t pay you.”
“Except in one way, and that way is an easy enough one. Listen to reason, Phil,” he said, dropping his sneer. “Don’t you see it is going to benefit you as well as me? You’ll have a good deal of money left for your own use, after paying me, provided you take two hundred-dollar bonds. It will be convenient to have fifty or sixty dollars in your pocket, eh?’
“Yes,” assented Philip, more cheerfully.