Page:Braddon--Wyllard's weird.djvu/116

108 "I thought the money from Davis, and the money you won at Goodwood, cleared all your difficulties."

"Yes, for the moment. But this York business has made things worse than they were before. However, you need not disturb yourself about it. Varney has offered to lend me the money."

She said this slowly, with drooping eyelids, and a thoughtful air; but she stole a little look at Bothwell from beneath the long dark lashes, to see how he took her speech.

"You must not take a sixpence of his money—not a sixpence," said Bothwell sternly.

"No? That is exactly my idea. It would be very bad form for a woman in my position to borrow from Varney—who is—well, a man of the world. But I must have the money somehow. The bookmakers won't wait. They only give credit in my case because they know I dare not cheat them."

"Surely the bookmen do not know that you are their creditor?"

"They are not supposed to know. The bets are made in my brother's name—Otho's—who has been in Australia for the last two years. But I don't believe these men would trust Otho, even if he were in London."

"It is dreadful!" exclaimed Bothwell, deeply distressed. "You ought not to have entangled yourself again. What makes you do this thing, Valeria? It is worse than chloral, or any other form of feminine madness."

"Yes, it is a kind of madness, I suppose. I should not do it if I were happy. I shall have no need to do it when I am happy—by and by."

Again she stole a look at him, a tender pathetic look, which would have melted him a year ago. But it left him unmoved now. He felt only anger at her folly, her obstinate persistence in wrong-doing.

"You must not take Varney's money," he repeated, "not for worlds. To think that you should have secret dealings with such a man—a hardened scamp and roué!"

"I am not going to accept Sir George's offer—which was at least good-natured, so you need not be uncivil about him," replied Valeria coolly; "but I must get the money somehow. I don't want Otho's name to be posted at Tattersall's. There are too many people who would guess that Otho stands for Valeria in this case."

"It would be disgraceful, horrible."

"But it will happen, I'm afraid, unless I can get the money."

"I can find no more, Valeria. That last loan from Davis was most difficult to manage. I had positively no security to offer. The money was advanced on the strength of Wyllard's position, on the speculation that he would not see me broke."