Volume Ii Part 27 (1/2)
”I do not believe in disinterested friends.h.i.+ps.”
”Nor do I; but I intend having a reward.”
”From me, I suppose,” and Mr. Drayton laughed again.
”From you--and from some one else. If my ideas are correct--you would not grudge me a good percentage, eh?”
”What do you call a good percentage?”
”Well, I want half; I want fifty per cent.”
”Fifty per cent.! nonsense, absolute nonsense.”
”You have no right to say 'nonsense'; and I think I am wasting my time,”
(which is also true, it is quite wonderful how I have been able to speak the truth to-day), and Paul Lyons felt a glow of satisfaction at this reflection.
”I don't know what you're driving at;” and Mr. Drayton looked so furiously at him that Paul Lyons thought if he ever favoured Margaret with such a glance it was enough to give her a fit.
”I am driving at nothing,” he said, with a very good show of anger. ”I don't pretend that I shan't be abominably annoyed if you do not go into this matter, because I see my way to making some money, but it seems to me that you have no papers to show me, and that you do not understand this matter very much; I believe I had better go--time, as far as I am concerned, is too precious to waste.”
He rose and made a movement towards the door. Mr. Drayton put his hand to his forehead; he felt confused; he never now could follow a thought for any time, but his cunning made him anxious to conceal this.
”You can stop,” he said, speaking a little thickly, and more slowly. ”I have some papers upstairs.”
”Let your servant fetch them.”
”No; certainly not. I will go myself.”
He left the room, and Paul threw up the window, flung out a packet, and closed it again.
Margaret saw the packet fall, but she also saw her husband at the upstairs window; therefore, to the young man's disappointment, she continued walking along, holding her little one's hand, and took no notice.
Mr. Drayton returned, holding some papers in his hands.
”What did you open the window for?” he asked, and Paul saw that his suspicions were again aroused.
”Open the window!” he answered, with great presence of mind. ”My dear Mr. Drayton, if you said that to any one else you would be accused of having delusions!”
Mr. Drayton glared at him, and said no more. Paul took the papers and glanced them over; they were lists in Mr. Drayton's own handwriting; and lists no sane man would have written. Here and there a number put down, and a long rambling note about some one supposed to have injured him; remarks about a man who took various shapes, and who made fiendish faces at him; and things of that sort.
Paul Lyons was not experienced in cases of the kind; this man, whom he felt to be insane (though evidently having lucid intervals), was a new revelation to him; but his heart beat violently. He had seen poor Margaret's face, and had recognised that she was pining under the influence of confinement, and probably terrors; and he felt sure that in his hand he held proofs that must be listened to--that he had that now in his possession which must ensure her freedom.
He affected to hunt for papers in his own pockets, and said carelessly, as he crammed the papers into the breast-pocket of his coat, ”I will look these over and compare them with what I have at home. Shall I find you at home to-morrow, Mr. Drayton?”
There was no answer, and looking up at him he saw that he was looking out of the window with a face full of malignancy--there was something horrible in his expression as he watched poor Margaret, who had seen the packet, and who had not dared to lift it yet. She had pa.s.sed close to it once or twice, and had pushed it under a bush with a careless kick.
Taken aback by this sign of animosity towards Margaret, Paul Lyons did not know what to do.
He was afraid of making things worse for her, and yet he could not bear going without giving and receiving a sign from her.