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It was his duty, and they should d -d well see him do it! Sylvanus Heythorp seldom went to bed before one or rose before eleven. The latter habit alone kept his valet from handing in the resignation which the former habit prompted almost every night. Propped on his pillows in a crimson dressing-gown, and freshly shaved, he looked more Roman than he ever did, except in his bath.
I've been counting on at least two hundred for my new story, and the wretches have refused it." With a tiny handkerchief she removed one tear from the corner of one eye. "It is hard, Guardy; I worked my brain silly over that story." From old Heythorp came a mutter which sounded suspiciously like: "Rats!" Heaving a sigh, which conveyed nothing but the generosity of her breathing apparatus, Mrs.
Mr. Brownbee rose, and said in a suave voice: "Mr. Heythorp, we here represent about L14,000. When we had the pleasure of meeting you last July, you will recollect that you held out a prospect of some more satisfactory arrangement by Christmas. We are now in January, and I am bound to say we none of us get younger."
Once on his feet, old Heythorp said: "Give me a kiss. You'll have your satin tomorrow." Then looking at Bob Pillin, he remarked: "Going my way? I'll give you a lift." The young man, giving Phyllis one appealing look, answered dully: "Tha-anks!" and they went out together to the taxi.
Good-night!" And, getting out deliberately, he walked off. Old Heythorp, waiting for the driver to help him up, thought 'Fatter, but no more guts than his father! In his sanctum he sank at once into his chair. It was wonderfully still there every day at this hour; just the click of the coals, just the faintest ruffle from the wind in the trees of the park.
"Yours faithfully, "CHARLES VENTNOR. "SYLVANUS HEYTHORP, Esq." Having sent this missive, and arranged in his mind the damning, if circumstantial, evidence he had accumulated, he awaited the hour with confidence, for his nature was not lacking in the cock-surety of a Briton.
This weakly old fellow would make a pretty witness, would simply crumple under cross-examination. What a contrast to that hoary old sinner Heythorp, whose brazenness nothing could affect. The rat was as large as life! And the only point was how to make the best use of it. Then for his experience was wide the possibility dawned on him, that after all, this Mrs.
Born in the early twenties of the nineteenth century, Sylvanus Heythorp, after an education broken by escapades both at school and college, had fetched up in that simple London of the late forties, where claret, opera, and eight per cent. for your money ruled a cheery roost.
He had been called to the Dublin bar, and married, young, a girl half Cornish and half Irish; presently, having cost old Heythorp in all a pretty penny, he had died impecunious, leaving his fair Rosamund at thirty with a girl of eight and a boy of five. She had not spent six months of widowhood before coming over from Dublin to claim the old man's guardianship.
"We hope that you will by then have seen your way to something more substantial, with a view to avoiding what we should all regret, but which I fear will otherwise become inevitable." Old Heythorp nodded. The eight gentlemen took their hats, and went out one by one, Mr. Brownbee courteously bringing up the rear. The old man, who could not get up without assistance, stayed musing in his chair.
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