When he had counted four, she called out, "Stop!
Stop! I am only giving you a twenty-pound cheque."
And then she saw that they were not five-pound notes,
as she had supposed, but ten-pound notes.

He went on counting, and mechanically, hardly
knowing that she was doing so, she counted with him
up to ten. He then took the envelope he had brought
with him, put the ten notes inside, and getting up
from his chair he laid the envelope on Mrs. Otway's
writing-table by the window.

"I want you to keep this by you in case of need.
I know you will forgive me if I say that I shall go away
feeling much happier if you will oblige me by doing
what I ask in this matter." Under the tan his face
had got very red, and there was a deprecating expression
in his dark blue eyes.

"I don't understand," she said, and the colour also
rushed into her face.

"I beg of you not to be angry with me----" Major
Guthrie stood up and looked down at her so humbly,
so wistfully, that she felt touched instead of angry.
"You see, I don't like the thought of your being
caught, as you've been caught this week apparently,
without any money in the house."

But if Mrs. Otway felt touched by the kind thought
which had prompted the offer of this uncalled-for
loan, she also felt just a little vexed. Major Guthrie
was treating her just like a child!

"I'm not in the least likely to be short of money,"
she cried, "once the banks are open again. The Dean
says that everything will be as usual by Monday, and
I have quite a lot of money coming in towards the
end of this month. In fact, as we can't now go

[[97]]

p096 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p097w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p098

v?