Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/74

  What will you pay?' he asked, suddenly, turning to me. I told him. " 'It is not much,' he observed, in a surly voice.

" 'I am not urging you to come,' I replied, quietly. 'There is the proposition; take it or leave it.'

I will let you know in the morning,' said he, and left us with no salutation.

"When he had gone Meyers turned to me with a weak and somewhat frightened smile.

I think that he will go,' said he. 'He is fond of money. Of course' he smiled in a way that made me want to kick him 'you understand—the—eh—my position'

" 'No'—I answered a bit brutally, I fear—'I don't. If you care enough about him to educate him as you appear to have done, why do you want to desert him?'

"He shrank as if I had struck him, and for a moment seemed on the verge of collapse, then recovered and clapped his hands feebly. A yellow girl, in an unclean pinafore which [ 58 ]