"Now, that's what I don't like. I'd a thousand times rather pay your gambling debts than have you putting yourself under an obligation to those men."
He couldn't bear it. He couldn't bear to think that Elise could bear it.
"You should have come to me," he said.
"I have come to you, haven't I?" She thought of the five hundred pounds.
He thought of them too. "Ah, that's different. Now, about these debts to
Markham and Hawtrey. How much do they come to—about?"
"Oh, a five-pound note would cover all of it. But I shall only be in debt to you."
"We'll say nothing about that. If I pay it, Elise, will you promise me you'll never play higher than penny points again?"
"It's too angelic of you, really."
He smiled. He liked paying her gambling debts. He liked the power it gave him over her. He liked to think that he could make her promise. He liked to be told he was angelic. It was all very cheap at five pounds, and it would enable him to refuse the five hundred with a better grace.
"Come, on your word of honour, only penny points."