"Then, somehow or other, I--I got introduced to her."
"Did you, indeed? How strange!"
"Don"t laugh at me, Miss Hardy. The woman"s my aversion. She"s old enough to be my mother, or--or my aunt, at any rate."
"One"s aunt may be younger than oneself."
"She isn"t, by a deal. She"s a hideous, vulgar old monstrosity."
"You appear to have a strong objection to the lady."
"I have. It--it sounds absurd, but she"s always after me. She must mistake me for her son."
"For her son? You look twenty-five, and I thought I saw in one of the papers the other day that Mrs Murphy was in her early thirties."
"She looks fifty, if a day. She can"t have sent me all that money."
"As to that, you should know better than I. She might, if she took you for her son."
"If I thought she had, I--I"d send it back to her."
Mr Coventry had recommenced fidgeting about the room. Miss Hardy"s suggestions seemed to have seriously disturbed him. That young lady continued to trifle with the bank-notes. As she trifled she continued to smile demurely.
"Hasn"t another rich woman been stopping at the Metropole?"
"You mean the American?"
"Was she an American?"
"Rather! Sarah Freemantle. Got five millions--pounds--of her own, in hard cash."
"Has she been stopping at the hotel since you"ve been there?"
"I believe she has, though I wasn"t aware of it till she had gone."
"Haven"t you ever seen her?"
"Never; which is rather queer, because she"s often been at dances which I"ve been at. But I hate Americans."
"Do you, indeed? How liberal-minded!"
"Don"t laugh at me. You--you don"t know how worried I am."
"Some people wouldn"t feel worried because 10,000 fell into their lap from the skies. Here, Mr Coventry, are your precious notes."
"I"ll send them back to her at once."
"Her? Whom? Mrs Murphy? Don"t you think you are rather hasty in jumping at conclusions? Suppose, after all, they didn"t come from Mrs Murphy?"
"I"ll soon find out, and if they did--"
"Well, if they did? I thought you mentioned some rather pressing obligations which you had to meet."
"Confound it! I know I"ve been a fool, but I"d rather be posted than owe my salvation to a woman"s money."
"All men are not of your opinion, Mr Coventry."
The lady"s tone was dry. The young gentleman had a tendency in the direction of "high-falutin."
Among his morning"s letters on the morrow the first which caught his eye was a missive enclosed in an envelope which was own brother to the one which had contained the notes.
"Another ten thousand pounds," he wailed.
But he was mistaken. Only a sheet of paper was in the envelope. On the sheet of paper two words were type-written:
"Buy Ceruleans."
Mr Coventry endeavoured to calm himself. Const.i.tutionally, he was of an excitable temperament. The endeavour required an effort on his part. When he could trust himself to speak, he delivered himself to this effect:
"What in thunder are Ceruleans? And why am I to buy them?"
He examined the paper; he examined the envelope; he observed that the postmark was "London, E.C."--that could scarcely be regarded as a tangible clue.
The remainder of his correspondence was not of an agreeable tenor.
Everybody seemed to be wanting money; moreover, everybody seemed to be wanting it at once. He went downstairs with, metaphorically, "his heart in his boots." On the way down he encountered an acquaintance.
Mr Coventry stopped him.
"I say, Gainsford, what are Ceruleans?"
"Ceruleans?" Mr Gainsford fixed his eyegla.s.s into his eye.
"Ceruleans?" Mr Gainsford thrust his hands into his breeches pockets.
"What do you know about Ceruleans?"
"I don"t know anything, only some fool or other has been advising me to buy them."
Mr Gainsford eyed Mr Coventry for some moments before he spoke again.
"Coventry, would you mind stepping into my sitting-room?" Mr Coventry stepped in. "I should be obliged if you would tell me who has been advising you to buy Ceruleans. I give you my word that you shall not suffer through giving me the name of your informant. I don"t know if you are aware that I am a member of the London Stock Exchange."
"I can"t give you the name of my informant, because I don"t know it myself. I have just had that sent me through the post. From whom it comes I know no more than Adam."
Mr Coventry handed him the paper on which were the two type-written words, "Buy Ceruleans." Mr Gainsford eyed this very keenly. Then he applied an equally keen scrutiny to Mr Coventry himself.
"Odd! Very odd! Very odd indeed!"
He paused, then continued with an air of quite judicial gravity,--
"Ceruleans, Mr Coventry, is Stock Exchange slang for an American mine which has just struck oil. The fact of its having done so is known, as yet, in England, to only one or two persons. Until you showed me that sheet of paper, I was under the impression that it was known only to one other person beside myself. Whoever sent you that piece of paper is in the know. Your correspondent has given you a recipe for a fortune."