The Loudwater Mystery | Page 9

his only vulnerable points," said Mr.
Manley viciously.
He was ignorant of Melchisidec's discovery of another.
"They are. And he certainly had robbed me of an income. It was only
fair that he should make up for it," she said rather plaintively.
"Absolutely fair."
"Well, those were the terms. The house is mine all right; it was
properly made over to me. But, stupidly, I didn't have a proper deed
drawn up about the money. I had his promise. One supposes that one
can take the word of an English Peer. But I think that it's really all right.
I have his letters about it."
"There's no saying. You'd better see a lawyer about it and find out. But
this isn't a very dark past," he said, and rose and came to her and kissed
her.
He was, indeed, relieved and reassured. In these circumstances the six
hundred a year was not an allowance at all. It was merely the payment
of a debt--a just debt.

"But it won't be nearly so nice for us, if the hog does manage to cut the
six hundred down to three hundred. My husband only left me a hundred
a year," she said, frowning.
"To be with you will be perfection, whatever our income is," said Mr.
Manley, with ringing conviction, and he kissed her again.
She smiled happily and said: "He shan't cut it down. I'll see that he
doesn't. When I've had a talk with him, he'll be glad enough to leave it
as it is."
"It's very likely that he's only trying it on. It's the kind of thing he
would do. But you'll find it difficult to get that talk. He's bent on
shirking it," said Mr. Manley.
"I'll see that he doesn't get the chance of shirking it," she said, and her
eyes gleamed again.
"I believe you're the only person in the world he's afraid of," he said in
a tone of admiration.
"I shouldn't wonder," she said. "At any rate, I seem to be the only
person in the world to whom he's always been civil. At least, I've never
heard of any one else."
"I'm afraid he won't be civil when you get that talk with him--if ever
you do get it," said Mr. Manley, frowning rather anxiously.
"That'll be all the worse for him," she said dauntlessly. "But, after all, if
I did fail to make him leave my income at six hundred, we should still
have this house and four hundred a year. We should still be quite
comfortable. Besides, you could keep on as his secretary, and that
would be another two hundred a year."
"I can't do that! It's out of the question!" cried Mr. Manley. "I'm getting
so to loathe the brute that I shall soon be quite unable to stand him. As
it is, I sometimes have a violent desire to wring his neck. Now that I
know that he played this measly trick on you, it will be more violent

than ever. Besides, we must have a flat in town. It's really necessary to
my work! I can do my actual writing down here fairly well. But what I
really need is to get in touch with the right people, with the people who
are really stimulating. Besides, I'm gregarious; I like mixing with
people."
"Yes. You're right. We must have a flat in town. Therefore, I must
make the hog keep to his bargain, and I will," she said firmly.
"I believe you may," he said, gazing at her determined face with
admiring eyes.
There was a pause. Then she said carelessly: "When are we going to
tell people that we're engaged?"
"Not yet awhile," said Mr. Manley quickly. "At least I don't want the
people about here to know about it. And if you come to think of it,
things being as they are, Loudwater would probably make himself
more infernally disagreeable to me than he does at present. He'd not
only try to take it out of me to annoy you, but it's just as likely as not
that he would consider my getting engaged to you as poaching on his
preserves--infernal cheek. He's the most hopelessly vain and
unreasonable sweep in the British Isles."
"I shouldn't be a bit surprised if he did. He couldn't possibly help being
a dog in the manger," she said thoughtfully. "And there's another thing.
It has just occurred to me that if he tries to halve my income for
nothing at all, he might try to stop it altogether if I got married. No; I
must get that matter settled for good and all. I'll have that talk with him
at once."
"If you can get it," said Mr. Manley doubtfully.
"I can get it," she said confidently. "You must