edom."

"I won't wait twelve. I swear I won't. I'm tired of this life. I can't
get any work to do, though I've tried over and over again. And I'm
always unlucky at play. There's Mary threatening to go out to work
again. If we were in another country, with a clear start, she should not
have to do that."

Oliver meditated. It did not seem to him likely that Ethel would refuse
to marry him in six months' time, but of course it was possible. Still
he was pretty sure that he could get the money advanced as soon as his
engagement was noised abroad. It was rather a pity that he would have to
publish it so soon--especially when his projects respecting Lesley
Brooke had not been carried out--but it could not be helped. The
prospect of ridding himself of his brother Francis was most welcome to
him. And--if he could quiet him by promises, it might perhaps not be
necessary to pay him the money after all.

"Well," he said, at last, "I promise it within six months, Francis. On
the conditions I named, of course."

"And you will keep your word?" said Francis, looking suspiciously into
his brother's smooth, pale face.

"If not," answered Oliver, airily, "you have the remedy in your own
hands, you know. You can easily bring me to book. And now that this
interesting conversation is ended, perhaps you will kindly allow me to
go home? The night is fine, but I am a good deal chilled with
standing----"

"And what am I, then? I've been waiting for you, off and on, for hours.
And I haven't got a shilling in my pocket, either. Haven't you got a
pound or two to spare, Oliver? For the sake of old times, you know."

Some men would have found it pitiful to hear poor Francis Trent, with
his broken-down, cringing, crafty look, thus sueing for a sovereign. For
he had the air of a ruined gentleman, not of an ordinary beggar, and the
signs of refinement in his face and bearing made his state of abasement
and destitution more apparent. But Oliver was not touched by any such
sentimental considerations. He looked at first as if he were about to
refuse his brother's request; but policy dictated another course. He
must not drive to desperation the man in whose hands lay his character
and perhaps his future fortune. He put his hand into his pocket, brought
out a couple of sovereigns, and dropped them into Francis' greedily
outstretched palm. Then he crossed the road towards his sister's house,
while the elder brother slunk away with an air of anything