“I’m afraid, Mrs. Otway, that you’re not likely to have those dividends paid you this August. All money payments from Germany to England, or from England to Germany, have of course stopped since Wednesday.”
And then, when he saw the look of utter dismay deepening into horrified surprise come over her face, he added hastily, “Of course we must hope that these moneys will be kept intact till the end of the war. Still, I doubt very much whether your bankers would allow you to draw on that probability, even if you were willing to pay a high rate of interest. German credit is likely to suffer greatly before this war is over.”
“But Major Guthrie? I don’t suppose you know what this means to me and to Rose. Why, more than half of everything we have in the world is invested in Germany!”
“I know that,” he said feelingly. “In fact, that was among the first things, Mrs. Otway, which occurred to me when I learnt that war had been declared. I expected to find you very much upset about it.”
“I never gave it a thought; I didn’t know a war could affect that sort of thing. What a fool I’ve been! Oh, if only I’d followed your advice—I mean two years ago!” She spoke with a great deal of painful agitation, and Major Guthrie felt very much distressed indeed. It was hard that he should have had to be the bearer of such ill tidings.
“I blame myself very, very much,” he said sombrely, “for not having insisted on your putting that money into English or Colonial securities.”
“Oh, but you did insist!” Even now, in the midst of her keen distress, the woman’s native honesty and generosity of nature asserted itself. “You couldn’t have said more! Don’t you remember that we nearly quarrelled over it? Short of forging my name and stealing my money and investing it properly for me, you couldn’t have done anything more than you did do, Major Guthrie.”
“That you should say that is a great comfort to me,” he said in a low voice. “But even so, I don’t feel as if I’d really done enough. You see, I was as sure—as sure as ever man was of anything—that this war was going to come either this year or next! As a matter of fact I thought it would be next year—I thought the Germans would wish to be even more ready than they are.”
“But do you really think they are ready?” she said doubtfully. “Look how badly they’ve been doing at Liége.” It was strange how Mrs. Otway’s mind had veered round in the last few minutes. She now wanted the Germans to be beaten, and beaten quickly.
He shook his head impatiently. “Wait till they get into their stride!” And then, in a different, a more diffident voice, “Then you’ll consent to relieve my mind by keeping the contents of that envelope—I mean of course by spending them? As a matter of fact I’ve a confession to make to you.” He looked at her deprecatingly. “I’ve just arranged with my London banker to make up those Hamburg dividends. He’ll send you the money in notes. He understands——” and then he got rather red. “He understands that I’m practically your trustee, Mrs. Otway.”