“And why, according to your own showing, should Luke Tarbot be the man to do a generous action?” asked the doctor.
Again Pelham was silent. Tarbot took a step forward. Pelham looked him full in the eyes.
“You want to say something. Say it quickly,” he cried. “To be frank with you, Tarbot, there are some men whom I like, and some——”
“For whom you have an antipathy,” said Dr. Tarbot.
Pelham nodded.
“Then in that case all is fair and above board between us,” said Tarbot. “We both want the same girl; we have both fought for her. You have won and I have lost. The loser in the game has seldom an admiration for the winner, but all the same, for the sake of this girl, I will help you to do a generous thing.”
“What is that?”
Tarbot bent forward and said in a low tone, “I will lend Mrs. Evershed ten thousand pounds on condition that you pay me back on the day you come in for the Pelham estates.”
Pelham’s face turned white.
“What do you mean?”