Part 2 (1/2)

Lauriston moved away with her down the walk.

”Oh, but I couldn't do that, now!” he said eagerly. ”You see I promised I'd do it for five.”

Zillah gave him a quick glance.

”Don't you be silly!” she said. ”When anybody like Melky offers you five pounds for anything, ask them double. They'll give it. You don't know much about money matters, do you?”

Lauriston laughed, and gaining confidence, gave the girl a knowing look.

”Not much,” he admitted, ”else I wouldn't have had to do that bit of business with you the other day.”

”Oh--that!” she said indifferently. ”That's nothing. You'd be astonished if you knew what sort of people just have to run round to us, now and then--I could tell you some secrets! But--I guessed you weren't very well up in money matters, all the same. Writing people seldom are.”

”I suppose you are?” suggested Lauriston.

”I've been mixed up in them all my life, more or less,” she answered.

”Couldn't help being, with my surroundings. You won't think me inquisitive if I ask you something? Were you--hard up--when you came round the other night?”

”Hard up's a mild term,” replied Lauriston, frankly. ”I hadn't a penny!”

”Excepting a gold watch worth twelve or fifteen pounds,” remarked Zillah, drily. ”And how long had you been like that?”

”Two or three days--more or less,” answered Lauriston. ”You see, I've been expecting money for more than a week--that was it.”

”Has it come?” she asked.

”No--it hasn't,” he replied, with a candid blush. ”That's a fact!”

”Will it come--soon?” she demanded.

”By George!--I hope so!” he exclaimed. ”I'll be hard up again, if it doesn't.”

”And then you offer to do for five what you might easily get ten for!”

she said, almost reproachfully. ”Let me give you a bit of advice--never accept a first offer. Stand out for a bit more--especially from anybody like my cousin Melky.”

”Is Melky a keen one, then?” enquired Lauriston.

”Melky's a young Jew,” said Zillah, calmly. ”I'm not--I'm half-and-half--a mixture. My mother was Jew--my father wasn't. Well--if you want money to be going on with, and you've got any more gold watches, you know where to come. Don't you ever go with empty pockets in London while you've got a bit of property to pledge! You're not a Londoner, of course?”

”I'm a Scotsman!” said Lauriston.

”To be sure--I knew it by your tongue,” a.s.serted Zillah. ”And trying to make a living by writing! Well, you'll want courage--and money. Have you had any luck?”

”I've sold two stories,” answered Lauriston, who by that time was feeling as if the girl was an old friend. ”They come to twenty pounds for the two, at the rate that magazine pays, and I've asked for a cheque--it's that I'm waiting for. It ought to come--any time.”

”Oh, but I know that game!” said Zillah. ”I've two friends--girls--who write. I know how they have to wait--till publication, or till next pay-day. What a pity that some of you writers don't follow some other profession that would bring in a good income--then you could do your writing to please yourselves, and not be dependent on it. Haven't you thought of that?”

”Often!” answered Lauriston. ”And it wouldn't do--for me, anyway. I've made my choice. I'll stick to my pen--and swim or sink with it. And I'm not going to sink!”