Part 33 (2/2)
”d.i.c.k, please--please don't go on.”
Suddenly he stopped walking about, leaned his hands on the table, and stared across at her.
”Suppose the entire business goes to pot. What then?”
”The business will recover, and continue--if it isn't drained to death.”
”Yes, but it's all mighty fine for _you_. You can afford to take a lofty tone. Fat years are followed by lean years--We must wait for the fat years again. I know all that cut and dried cackle--it's the way people of property always talk. I came in with nothing--please to remember that. I'm absolutely dependent on the business--if the profits go down to nothing, am I to starve?”
”You shan't starve;” and she looked round the comfortable, well-furnished room.
”_You_ had your private fortune--all that you'd put by,--and I suppose you have got all of it still.”
”How can I have it all--when you know what I gave to Enid?”
”You gave Enid a dashed sight too much--but you had plenty left, in spite of that.”
”d.i.c.k, on my honour, I hadn't a large amount left. I used to count myself a rich woman, but I was only relying on the business. What I took out one year I put back into it another year. I was always trying to improve it.”
”I'll swear you haven't put any back since you married me.”
”No, I haven't.”
”No, that I'll swear.” He had lowered his voice, and he was speaking with a scornful intensity. ”No, good times or bad times in the shop, you are content to pouch your dividends from all your stocks and shares, and sit watching your nest-egg grow bigger and bigger, while--”
”d.i.c.k! You are tiring me out. Don't go on.”
”Yes, I will go on. You started it--and now I mean to get to the bottom of things. Let's get to plain figures at last. What are you worth now--of your very own--apart from the firm?”
”Not one penny more than I need--for my own safety.”
”Ha-ha! You're afraid to tell me.”
”Why should I tell you? d.i.c.k, don't go on. It's cruel of you to bully me--when I'm so tired.”
”Twenty thousand? Thirty thousand? How much? Oh, I dare say I can figure it out for myself--without your help. Say twelve or fifteen hundred a year, coming in like clockwork. Why I saved you two-fifty a year myself, by cutting down what you intended to settle on Enid and that skinny rascal of a horse-coper.”
”d.i.c.k--for pity's sake--”
”Then answer me.” And he raised his voice louder than before. ”What are you doing with your private income?”
”This house costs _something_.”
”Oh, this house can't stand you in much. Where does the rest go--if you aren't saving it? Are you giving it to Enid?... That's it, I suppose. If that lazy swine wants two hundred to buy himself another thoroughbred hunter, I suppose he sends Enid sneaking over here--when my back's turned--and just taps you for it. You don't refuse _him_. But if _I_ come to you, it's 'No, certainly not. Do you want to ruin me?'”
”d.i.c.k!”
”Then, will you let me have it?”
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