t much for current expenses
until next Lady Day. However, he decided that he could manage in
Wychford, if he did not have to pay out money for Oxford debts, the
creditors of which were pressing him harder each week.

L _s_. _d_.

_Lampard_. Books. 39 15 0
_Harker_. Furniture. 17 18 0
_Faucett_. Books. 22 16 6
_Williamson_. Books. 13 19 0
_Ambrose_. Books. 4 7 0
_Brough_. Tobacco. 9 19 0
_Clary_. Clothes. 44 4 0
_Miscellaneous_. Books, Clothes,
Stationery, Chemist,
etc., etc. about L50

A total of L202 18_s_. 6_d_. Practically he might say that L200 would
clear everything. Yet was L50 enough to allow for those miscellaneous
accounts? Here, for instance, was a bill of L11 for boots and another of
L14 for hats, apparently, though how the deuce he could have spent all
that on hats he did not know. It would be wiser to say that L250 was
required to free himself from debt. Guy read through the tradesmen's
letters and detected an universal impatience, for they all reminded him
that not merely for fifteen months had they received nothing on account
of large outstanding bills, but also they made it clear that behind
reiterated demands and politeness strained to breaking-point stood
darkly the law. That brute Ambrose, to whom, after all, he owed only L4
7_s_., was the most threatening. In fact, he would obviously have to pay
the ruffian in full. That left only L15 13_s_. for current expenses to
Lady Day, or rather L14 12_s_., for, by the way, Worrall's guinea had
been left out of the reckoning.

Guy wondered if he ought to get rid of Miss Peasey and manage for
himself in future. Yet the housekeeper probably earned her wages by what
she saved him, and if he relied on a woman who "came in" every morning,
that meant feeding a family. It would be better to sell a few books. He
might raise L50 that way. Ten pounds to both Lampard and Clary, and six
fivers among the rest, would postpone any violent pressure for a while.
Guy at once began to choose the books with which he could most easily
part. It was difficult to put aside as many as might be expected to
raise L50, for his collection d