Writing people seldom are."
"I suppose you are?" suggested Lauriston.
"I've been mixed up in them all my life, more or less," she answered.
"Couldn't help being, with my surroundings. You won't think me inquisitive
if I ask you something? Were you--hard up--when you came round the other
night?"
"Hard up's a mild term," replied Lauriston, frankly. "I hadn't a penny!"
"Excepting a gold watch worth twelve or fifteen pounds," remarked Zillah,
drily. "And how long had you been like that?"
"Two or three days--more or less," answered Lauriston. "You see, I've been
expecting money for more than a week--that was it."
"Has it come?" she asked.
"No--it hasn't," he replied, with a candid blush. "That's a fact!"
"Will it come--soon?" she demanded.
"By George!--I hope so!" he exclaimed. "I'll be hard up again, if it
doesn't."
"And then you offer to do for five what you might easily get ten for!" she
said, almost reproachfully. "Let me give you a bit of advice--never accept
a first offer. Stand out for a bit more--especially from anybody like my
cousin Melky."
"Is Melky a keen one, then?" enquired Lauriston.
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