Читать книгу On the Brink of a Chasm: A record of plot and passion онлайн

40 страница из 79

“For whom you have an antipathy,” said Dr. Tarbot.

Pelham nodded.

“Then in that case all is fair and above board between us,” said Tarbot. “We both want the same girl; we have both fought for her. You have won and I have lost. The loser in the game has seldom an admiration for the winner, but all the same, for the sake of this girl, I will help you to do a generous thing.”

“What is that?”

Tarbot bent forward and said in a low tone, “I will lend Mrs. Evershed ten thousand pounds on condition that you pay me back on the day you come in for the Pelham estates.”

Pelham’s face turned white.

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I say. I will lend you that sum to help Mrs. Evershed on that one condition and that alone. You will have, of course, to sign a post obit, but such things are done every day. On the day you come in for the estates, worth over sixty thousand a year, you will pay me back that trifling loan. Are you willing to oblige Barbara’s mother, or are you not?”