Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 42).djvu/755

"Mr. Clarke will be paid his thousand pounds; and you will sit down at that table and write on that sheet of paper a list of the moneys you owe; they will all be paid—out of the fund which I have at my disposal. Now, do not ask questions, but do as you're told. Yes, it is a miracle if you like to think it so, it's the miracle which is going to be the making of you. Now, sit down and write."

He sat down and wrote; it took him some minutes. A young gentleman cannot be expected to set down all he owes in an instant; I daresay there were omissions in that list of his when it was finished, though it came to a nice little total as it was.

"That's a very great deal of money," I told him when I glanced at it. "Nearly three thousand pounds. It's dreadful that a young man who is practically penniless should owe all that. If, by a miraculous interposition, it is paid, is this sort of thing going to recur? Wait before you answer. You will leave Dieppe to-night, by the boat which starts at half-past one. Miss Stainer will leave also, in charge of a lady who is a very dear friend of mine. You will go to London, there you will obtain a marriage licence, and the day after to-morrow, which will be Thursday, you will be married."

"Oh!" Margery gasped; I had to put an arm round her waist to hold her steady.

"You will book two berths by the boat which starts for New York on Saturday. On your arrival there employment will be found for you, and you will be provided with funds which will enable you to live until your salary falls due. The future will be in your own hands. Live decently, keep out of debt, work like an honest man should do who has given hostages to fortune, and there's no reason I know of why you shouldn't be the happiest couple in the world—because you are starting with a very valuable capital, your love for each other. Now, Margery, you're not to do that."

The girl, having come close up to me, had laid her head against my breast and was crying. I had to comfort her.

"Now, my dear, you must keep your head; you mustn't give way; there are heaps of things you must do. To-morrow you must buy your trousseau, and all sorts of things you will have to have; and—now, Margery, if you will keep on crying you'll make me cry too, you will—and I won't."

And I did not cry; I never do. I look upon crying as an absurd feminine weakness; and if I did, it was nothing to speak of.

Everything happened as I intended. They left by the early morning boat—Mr. Armitage was so shame-faced. He was still bewildered; even as the boat was starting I believe he had a sort of feeling that his brains were addled. Mrs. Curtis shared a cabin with the girl. And Mr. Curtis stayed behind with me.

The next morning I interviewed Mr. Clarke. I sent for him to Mr. Curtis's sitting-room, and he came. Mr. Curtis was present to see that everything was fair. I began at the visitor before his nose was well inside the door—I did have such an objection to the man.

"Mr. Clarke, I presume you're aware that you have placed yourself in a very serious position?"

He glared at me as if he wondered who I was; then he looked at Mr. Curtis, and perhaps that kept him from saying some of the things he would have liked to say.

"You have in your pocket a forged bill of acceptance which you received, well knowing it to be forged, and which you have used for the purpose of extorting blackmail. I need not tell a person of your experience that by so doing you have placed yourself within the reach of the criminal law."

He began to bluster.

"Who the deuce are you, and what do you mean by talking to me like this?"

"Mr. Armitage has instructed me to act on his behalf." I laid some notes on the table. "There is the money he owes you. You'll give me the bill you hold and a quittance in full of all the claims you have against him."

The man made quite a pretty little scene—or, rather, he tried to; because a few remarks from Mr. Curtis brought him to before he had really got under weigh. When he left that room he had got his money, and I had the bill and the quittance and everything I wanted. Then I interviewed Miss Drawbridge.

I found her in the courtyard of the hotel having what she called her aperitive. As always, I came to the point with her at once.

"Miss Drawbridge, Mr. Armitage wishes me to tell you that the engagement which he entered into with you is at an end. As you made it clear to me that there was no sentiment about the matter, I am sure you will excuse my treating it as a business proposition—which is off."

She did not seem to mind my talking to her like that in the very least. She was a most extraordinary woman. Instead of my taking her aback, she took me.

"That's all right. I've been turning matters over in my mind, and I think myself