Page:Georgie by Dorothea Deakin, 1906.djvu/126

"Georgie" perhaps it isn't such a pity as you think." Drusilla glanced quickly at the depressed Dolly. "You see she does sing well, doesn't she, and there wouldn't be anything else so very likely to suit—well, to suit her peculiar style, would there, to look at it in a really sensible and practical light?"

"I suppose not," Georgie said reluctantly.

He turned quickly to Lappin.

"Look here," he said. "If I were to finance you, what guarantee could you give me that you were honest?"

Lappin's face lighted up; he looked less of a scoundrel when he was happy, I found. But perhaps he is not alone in this.

"Guarantee?" he said. "I'll write out a formal agreement, and have it legally stamped."

The pianist sniffed. "I've had stamped agreements before," he murmured with meaning, "and no six and eightpence for a lawyer to enforce 'em." 110