Page:Herbert Jenkins - The Rain Girl.djvu/307

 for me, I can do little or nothing without Hoskins.

"Teddy, that is, Edward Seymour," he explained, "was so ill-advised as to suggest that the Aunt had not always regarded Richard with such favour. Then it was that she turned and rent him, slew him with the jawbone No, that would not be altogether complimentary to Richard. She told him that if he had half Richard's brains, he would try to do something for himself instead of waiting for her to die. She was almost Æschylean in her grandeur. Poor Teddy literally wilted, and Cecily burst into tears; but as Cecily invariably bursts into tears at the least possible provocation, that was not remarkable."

Again Drewitt paused, then looking at Beresford, he said casually: "By the way, Richard, you are to be raised to my financial status; the Aunt insists on allowing you two thousand a year, conditional on your good behaviour."

Beresford looked at him in a dazed manner, then he suddenly flushed a deep red and looked across at Lola, who, however, was busily engaged in digging holes in the turf with the point of her sunshade.

"She regards your marrying Lola as a proof of your subtlety and commercial acumen. She"

"Please" Lola glanced up at him pleadingly.

"It's all right, Lola," smiled Beresford. "It makes a bit of difference. I shan't have to come to you for everything."

"It was the two thousand pounds that laid out the Vultures," continued Drewitt. "They felt just as