Page:The Painted Veil - Maugham - 1925.djvu/89

 fix it up somehow. It wouldn’t do him any good if there was a scandal.”

“What can he do?” asked Kitty.

“He can bring pressure to bear on Walter. If he can’t get at him through his ambition he’ll get at him through his sense of duty.”

Kitty was a little chilled. She did not seem able to make Charlie see how desperately grave the situation was. His airiness made her impatient. She was sorry that she had come to see him in his office. The surroundings intimidated her. It would have been much easier to say what she wanted if she could have been in his arms with hers round his neck.

“You don’t know Walter,” she said.

“I know that every man has his price.”

She loved Charlie with all her heart, but his reply disconcerted her; for such a clever man it was a stupid thing to say.

“I don’t think you realise how angry Walter is. You haven’t seen his face and the look of his eyes.”

He did not reply for a moment, but looked at her with a slight smile. She knew what he was thinking. Walter was the bacteriologist and occupied a subordinate position; he would hardly have the impudence to make himself a nuisance to the upper officials of the Colony.

“It’s no good deceiving yourself, Charlie,” she said earnestly. “If Walter has made up his mind to bring an action nothing that you or anybody else can say will have the slightest influence.”

His face once more grew heavy and sulky.