What two quid?"

"The two quid I lent you," said Mr. Prout, in a pained voice.

"When?" said Mr. Carter, struggling.

"When you and I met him that evening on the pier," said Miss Evans, in a
matter-of-fact voice.

Mr. Carter started, and gazed at her uneasily. The smile on her lip and
the triumphant gleam in her eye were a revelation to him. He turned to
Mr. Evans and in as calm a voice as he could assume, requested him to
discharge the debt. Mr. Prout, his fingers twitching, stood waiting
"Well, it's your money," said Mr. Evans, grudgingly extracting a purse
from his trouser-pocket; "and I suppose you ought to pay your debts;
still----"

He put down two pounds on the table and broke off in sudden amazement as
Mr. Prout, snatching up the money, bolted headlong from the room. His
surprise was shared by his son, but the other two made no sign. Mr.
Carter was now prepared for the worst, and his voice was quite calm as he
gave instructions for the payment of the other three gentlemen who
presented claims during the evening endorsed by Miss Evans. As the last
departed Mr. Evans, whose temper had been gradually getting beyond his
control, crossed over and handed him his watch and chain, a few coppers,
and the return half of his railway ticket.

"I think we can do without you, after all," he said, breathing thickly.
"I've no doubt you owe money all over England. You're a cadger, that's
what you are."

He pointed to the door, and Mr. Carter, after twice opening his lips to
speak and failing, blundered towards it. Miss Evans watched him
curiously.

"Cheats never prosper," she said, with gentle severity.

"Good-by," said Mr. Carter, pausing at the door.

"It's your own fault," continued Miss Evans, who was suffering from a
slight touch of conscience. "If you hadn't come here pretending to be
Bert Simmons and calling me 'Nan' as if you had known me all my life, I
wouldn't have done it."

"It doesn't matter," said Mr. Carter. "I wish I was Bert Simmons, that's
all. Good-by."

"Wish you was!" said Mr. Evans, who had been listening in open-mouthed
astonishment. "Look here! Man to man--are you Bert Simmons or are you
not?"

"No," said Mr. Carter.

"Of course not," said Nancy.

"And you didn't owe that money?"

"Nobody owed it," said Nancy. "It was done just to punish him."

Mr. Evans, with a strange cry, blundered towards the door. "I'll have
that money out of 'em," he roared, "if I have to hold 'e