“I am sorry to trouble you again, old chap; but things are very bad. I haven’t a penny in the world and the family are——”
“That is quite sufficient. You came to me a year ago with a similar sort of story. I gave you a hundred pounds.”
“You were very generous——”
“And I told you that it would be the last time you got any money from me,” Gaunt said curtly.
“I know that; but things are really bad. There’s no food in the house, and the wife——”
“I am a man of my word. Surely you should have realized the uselessness of this call. Have you ever known me change when I have once made up my mind?”
“I am desperate, Gaunt. We are starving——”
There was truth in the man’s voice. The words carried conviction with them, but Gaunt showed no sign of weakening.
“I once did you a good turn,” Braithwaite said appealingly.
“You did—and I have repaid it many times over.”