"I never made any bargain to give them to--you, even though you have condescended to honour the _Sphinx_ with your presence to-night," he said.
Cara approached the table.
"No. I didn"t expect them in return for that," she replied. "I"m proposing to give you the usual return for notes of hand--payment of the amount owing."
To make this proposal had been her intention when she had first suggested to Ann that she should take her place as Forrester"s guest. She had not dared to offer the necessary money as an outright loan, realising that the girl would have refused it on Tony"s behalf peremptorily, so she had inwardly resolved to redeem the bills Brett held without consulting her.
She opened a small, ivory-mounted wrist-bag she carried, and withdrew a bundle of crisp Bank of England notes.
"I think the sum owing is twelve hundred," she said composedly. "There"s the money. Will you count it, please, and let me have the bills Tony has given you."
Brett stood quietly looking down at the small heap of notes, but he made no effort to pick them up.
"I"d forgotten you were a wealthy woman," he remarked contemplatively.
Cara laughed rather bitterly.
"Heaven knows I"ve not found my wealth of much value to me before," she said. "But I shall think more of it in the future if it can get a friend out of trouble. Come, take the money, Brett, and give me the bills," she added, with a touch of impatience.
He picked up one of the notes and fingered it thoughtfully, then replaced it on the pile once more.
"I"m sorry," he said mildly. "But it isn"t you who owe me this money. It"s Brabazon. So I can"t accept repayment from you."
Cara glanced at him swiftly. Her lips felt suddenly dry.
"What do you mean?" she asked nervously.
"Just what I say. Brabazon is my debtor--you haven"t authority to act for him, by any chance, have you?"
"Authority? No. But I"m willing--I"m only too glad to be able to do this for him."
Brett pushed the bundle of notes across the table towards her.
"I"m sorry," he repeated pensively. "It"s very good of you, of course.
But I couldn"t possibly take your money. I happen to be the holder of the bills, and I only give them back to Brabazon for the amount owing--or to Ann on the terms I suggested. Otherwise"--a sudden flame leapt up in his eyes--"I keep them."
Cara stood as though turned to stone. The whole thing became perfectly clear to her on the instant. It had not been just a carelessly selfish proposal--that bargain he had made with Ann--but a deliberately thought-out scheme. Slowly she replaced the useless notes in the little silken bag which had held them.
"Ah! I see you understand," he observed, watching her with some amus.e.m.e.nt.
She looked at him with a desperate demand in her eyes.
"Brett, what did you mean to do? What was your plan--if Ann had come?" she asked in a low, shaken voice.
He laughed.
"Can"t you guess? Really, Cara, I think I complimented you on your perspicacity too soon! It seems to be--halting a little, shall we say?--now."
"You didn"t ask her here just for the pleasure it would give you--there was something else--"
"It was partly for that. I at least made sure of a few hours alone with her!" A note of pa.s.sion roughened his voice for a moment. Then he forced it back and his blue eyes laughed at her again, audaciously. "But it was partly for the _dis_pleasure which I thought it might give to some one else."
"_Eliot!_"
"Even so. He"s not got precisely what you"d call an equable temperament, has he?"
"And you knew"--slowly--"that if he discovered Ann had been here--"
"Exactly"--with a mocking bow. "You"ve guessed it. "The marriage arranged"--would not take place."
Cara stared at him in frank horror.
"Then it was a trap!" she exclaimed, and beneath the utter scorn and contempt which rang in her voice any other man would have winced. But it affected Brett not one jot.
"Yes. And would have succeeded admirably, but for your interference. Tell me, how did you persuade Ann not to come? It isn"t like her to back out of a bargain."
"No, it isn"t," agreed Cara warmly. "Ann would always keep her word--even if the keeping of it half killed her."
"Then how?"
There was a suspicion of veiled triumph in her smile.
"It was quite simple," she said. "I sent her a wire, saying, "Don"t come to-night"--and signed it "Forrester.""
Brett burst out laughing.
"My felicitations! That was quite a stroke after my own heart! But still, you"ll agree, it was rather a liberty to take with my name, wasn"t it?"
"A liberty? Perhaps. But you were trying to _ruin_ Ann"s name--and her happiness. Won"t you change your mind, Brett, and sell me those notes of hand?" she added, with a sudden entreaty.
"I hate refusing you," he smiled back.
She realised the futility of pleading with him further, and drew her furs round her shoulders preparatory to leaving him.
"Then I"ll go back. I"m sorry I"ve failed. But thank G.o.d I at least prevented Ann from coming here herself."
She moved towards the door, but Brett was before her, and planted himself with his back against it.
"Let me pa.s.s, Brett," she said quietly, though her heart beat a shade faster in her breast.
"Again I"m sorry to refuse you," he returned mockingly.
"You can"t--keep me here!"
"Can"t I? If you interfere with other people"s love affairs, you must be prepared to take the consequences. In this ease the consequence is supper with me."
Cara hesitated. She could not struggle with him, and in his present mood she thought it quite possible he might oppose with actual physical force any attempt on her part to leave the yacht. If he did, of course, she would be perfectly helpless. Forcing herself to a composure she was far from feeling, she turned away from the door he was guarding with a slight shrug of her shoulders.