Page:Edgar Jepson--the four philanthropists.djvu/192

184 money on your expectations, or rather certainty. Well, well, it will be enough if you give me note of hand for £5,000. But, of course, you would have to trust me to earn it."

His face cleared again, and he said cheerfully: "That's all right. I know if you didn't clear the old fiend out of the way you'd never ask for the money. You shall have a note of hand at once."

"That's settled then. And now for your immediate needs. We must consider them, for, as you can understand, prompt as this firm is, these removals cannot be arranged in a day. How much a week can you live on comfortably?"

"Thirty shillings," he said, without a thought.

I thought of his former gay cravats and their jewelled pins.

"I'll make it more than that. We'll say two pounds ten." "Thank you," he said, really thankfully.

"And how would you like to go out of London for a while, till after this removal has taken place? I can borrow a cottage in Hertfordshire for you. It's not quite the time of year for the country, but the change should be good for your little boy."

"We should like it," he said, and his face shone at the thought. "It would be good for the boy and my wife, too. Besides, London is a kind of nightmare to us, though the old hole does not look so bad as it did yesterday."