Part 9 (1/2)
”It's of no consequence,” said Edward Henry, feeling in his pockets
Having discovered therein a piece of paper he twisted it and rose to put it to the gas
”Could you slip round to your bank and ested Mr Bryany
”No, I couldn't,” said Edward Henry
”Well, then, what--?”
”Here, you'd better take this,” the ”Card,” reborn, soothed his host and, blowing out the spill which he had just ignited at the gas, he offered it to Mr Bryany
”What?”
”This,the peculiarity of the spill, seized it and unrolled it--not without a certain agitation
He staenuine?”
”You'd alrowing fond of this reply, and of the enigmatic, playful tone that he had invented for it
”But--”
”We may, as you say, look twice at a fiver,” continued Edward Henry
”But we're apt to be careless about hundred-pound notes in this district I daresay that's why I always carry one”
”But it's burnt!”
”Only just the edge Not enough to harland refuses it, return it to e Is that talking?”
”Well, I'm dashed!” Mr Bryany attempted to rise, and then subsided back into his chair ”I am simply and totally dashed!” He smiled weakly, hysterically
And in that instant Edward Henry felt all the sweetness of a coly:
”You n me a transfer I'll dictate it!”
Then he jumped up
”You're in a hurry?”
”I a me You promised to find arette as a reproach to Mr Bryany's ie Church, still iht, showed a quarter to one when he saw it again on his hurried and guilty way hoht wind and he had his overcoat buttoned up to the neck He was absolutely solitary in the long, ar Road He walked because the last tram-car was already housed in its shed at the other end of the world, and he walked quickly because his conscience drove him onwards And yet he dreaded to arrive, lest a wound in the child's leg should haveHe was now as apprehensive concerning that wound as Nellie herself had been at tea-tiulf of anxiety, there floated brighter thoughts Despite his fears and his rehed aloud in the deserted street when he re the note Indubitably he hadi Mr Bryany out of the Five Towns a differentor two To what brilliant use had he turned the purely accidental possession of a hundred-pound note! One of his finest inspirations--an inspiration worthy of the great days of his youth! Yes, he had had his hour that evening, and it had been a glorious one Also, it had cost him a hundred pounds, and he did not care; he would retire to bed with a net gain of two hundred and forty-one pounds instead of three hundred and forty-one pounds--that was all!