dly.

"A large one; a thousand pounds."

It did not require the peculiar intonation she threw into her voice to
make the matter clear to him. He was well aware that no such sum was
owing.

"Here is the cheque," she went on; and, taking from her purse a signed
and crossed cheque upon a London banker, she unfolded it and threw it
upon the table, watching him the while.

Philip gazed at the money with the eyes of a hungry wolf. A thousand
pounds! That might be his for the asking, nay, for the taking. It
would bind him to nothing. The miser's greed took possession of him as
he looked. Slowly he raised his hand, twitching with excitement, and
stretched it out towards the cheque, but, before his fingers touched
it, Lady Bellamy, as though by accident, dropped her white palm upon
the precious paper.

"I suppose that Mr. Heigham will leave to-morrow on the understanding
we mentioned?" she said carelessly, but in a significant tone.

Philip nodded.

The hand was withdrawn as carelessly as it had come, leaving the
cheque, blushing in all its naked beauty, upon the table. Philip took
it as deliberately as he could, and put it in his pocket. Then,
rising, he said good-bye, adding, as he passed through the door:

"Remember, I have no responsibility in the matter. I wash my hands of
it, and wish to hear nothing about it."

"The thousand pounds has done it," reflected Lady Bellamy. "I told
George that he would rise greedily at money. I have not watched him
for twenty years for nothing. Fancy selling an only daughter's
happiness in life for a thousand pounds, and such a daughter too! I
wonder how much he would take to murder her, if he were certain that
he would not be found out. Upon my word, my work grows quite
interesting. That cur, Philip, is as good as a play," and she laughed
her own peculiar laugh.

CHAPTER XXX

Into Philip's guilty thoughts, as he wended his homeward way, we will
not inquire, and indeed, for all the warm glow that the thousand pound
cheque in his pocket diffused through his system, they were not to be
envied. Perhaps no scoundrel presents at heart such a miserable object
to himself and all who know him, as the scoundrel who attempts to
deceive himself and, whilst reaping its profits, tries to shoulder the
responsibility of his iniquity on to the backs of others!

Unfortunately, in this prosaic world of bargains, one cannot receive
cheques for one thousand pounds