“What do you call no money?” I asked.
I knew the amount of his income to a penny.
“Eight hundred a year. A fellow can’t do much on that.”
I laughed outright. “Eight hundred a year is a fortune to a man with no encumbrances, especially in town.”
“Well, I can’t exactly say I haven’t got any encumbrances. There is this place to be looked after. Not that I do much towards it, I’m bound to say. I should like to sell it, but my sister likes it and as she lives here she does most of the keeping-up.”
I strolled down the road with him. He was rather the worse for the amount he had drunk, and hiccoughed slightly as he affectionately bade me good-night and assured me that he would be round the first thing in the morning.
Leaning out of the little inn bedroom I considered the question of accepting his invitation to lunch.
So far I had withheld my identity. If I went to the house on the morrow I could no longer conceal the fact that I was a relation.
When they knew who I was, it might or it might not make my task more difficult, and by this my action must be guided entirely.
I finally came to the decision that I could not expect to gain any access to young Gascoyne unless I followed up the acquaintance.