She looked at me for a moment, and her cheeks grew very red.
"Look here," she said, "for reasons of my own, I don't want David made bankrupt."
She paused and I nodded.
"I haven't got fifteen thousand pounds or fifteen thousand pence. And I can't raise it, either. But I can do something if other people will help. If I find six thousand, can you or anybody else find the rest?"
"My dear Sonia," I said, "the whole thing's arranged. I talked to Bertrand on Friday, and he's putting up the whole sum."
"The whole sum?" she repeated, and there was dismay in her tone; then more hopefully, "But can he afford it?"
"It's not convenient," I said. "Very few people would find it convenient at a time like this, but he can do it."
"But that means he'll have to sell things, doesn't it? And you said it was a bad time for selling."
I shrugged my shoulders. "That can't be helped. None of us carries thousands loose in his pockets."
Sonia poured herself out another cup of tea.