"How are you actually situated with regard to money?" he enquired.
"I have got seventy or eighty pounds of my own," I said "It's not exactly a fortune, but it ought to be enough to carry on with for the present."
He relinquished his place on the edge of the table and sat down again in the chair which he had been occupying when I first entered the room.
"Well, it's just as you like," he remarked, "but if you are really serious about this idea of yours, I think you had better let me make you a small advance. You needn't have any scruples, you know, because I shall charge you interest on it. There are bound to be a certain number of things you will want to buy, and there's no particular point in running yourself short of cash." He looked round at me enquiringly. "What would you say to a couple of hundred pounds at six per cent.?"
"I should say thank you," I replied promptly. "It's rather a lukewarm sort of a phrase, but I can't think of anything better for the moment."
He pressed a small electric bell in the wall beside him.
"No need for thanks," he repeated. "I shouldn't suggest it if it wasn't a perfectly sound investment from my point of view. I hope to make a lot of money out of you before we've finished."
The door opened, and a solemn-faced young man with a large pair of spectacles on his nose insinuated himself into the room.
"Are you busy, Sandford?" enquired Mr. Drayton, looking up from the cheque that he was writing.
"Not particularly, sir," replied the solemn-faced young man.