d, seeming to look closely at a print on
the wall. "I'm going to be married before the end of the year. On that
point I've made up my mind. I went yesterday to see a house at
Fulham--Mrs. Cross's, by the bye, it's to let at Michaelmas, rent
forty-five. All but settled that I shall take it. Risk be hanged. I'm
going to make money. What an ass I was to take that fellow's first
offer for 'Sanctuary'! It was low water with me, and I felt bilious.
Fifty guineas! Your fault, a good deal, you know; you made me think
worse of it than it deserved. You'll see; Blackstaffe'll make a small
fortune out of it; of course he has all the rights--idiot that I was!
Well, it's too late to talk about that.--And I say, old man, don't take
my growl too literally. I don't really mean that you were to blame. I
should be an ungrateful cur if I thought such a thing."

"How's 'The Slummer' getting on?" asked Warburton good-humouredly.

"Well, I was going to say that I shall have it finished in a few weeks.
If Blackstaffe wants 'The Slummer' he'll have to pay for it. Of course
it must go to the Academy, and of course I shall keep all the
rights--unless Blackstaffe makes a really handsome offer. Why, it ought
to be worth five or six hundred to me at least. And that would start
us. But I don't care even if I only get half that, I shall be married
all the same. Rosamund has plenty of pluck. I couldn't ask her to start
life on a pound a week--about my average for the last two years; but
with two or three hundred in hand, and a decent little house, like that
of Mrs. Cross's, at a reasonable rent--well, we shall risk it. I'm sick
of waiting. And it isn't fair to a girl--that's my view. Two years now;
an engagement that lasts more than two years isn't likely to come to
much good. You'll think my behaviour pretty cool, on one point. I don't
forget, you old usurer, that I owe you something more than a hundred
pounds--"

"Pooh!"

"Be poohed yourself! But for you, I should have gone without dinner
many a day; but for you, I should most likely have had to chuck
painting altogether, and turn clerk or dock-labourer. But let me stay
in your debt a little longer, old man. I can't put off my marriage any
longer, and just at first I shall want all the money I can lay my hands
on."

At this moment Mrs. Hopper entered with a lamp. There was a pause in
the conversation. Franks lit a cigarette, and tried to sit still, but
was very soon pacing the floor again. A tu