“Because I thought I’d get some from home. It hasn’t come. Do you know how I’ve managed to scrub along the past week? Well, I’ll tell you: I’ve borrowed from my sister. Yes, borrowed from my sister, and she gets what little money she has by teaching music. It comes hard enough, and she needs every dollar.”
“I’ve got to have ten,” hissed Mel, wagging his head from side to side. “I won’t wait any longer. Can’t you borrow that of her?”
“Say, I’d like to choke you! No, I can’t; see?”
“Well, then, there’s only one thing for me to do,” said Mel, with a shrug of his shoulders and an upward toss of his hand.
“I’ll have to raise money on the securities you let me have. That was according to the agreement. I’ll have to find out what they’ll bring.”
“If you sell my stuff, I’ll knock the head off you!” shouted Duncan.
“Don’t yell like that in this room,” remonstrated Lynch. “I can’t have it, Ditson.”
“But look at that cursed Shylock!” panted Dunc, pointing at Mel. “He’d steal coppers off a dead man’s eyes.”
“You have no right to say that,” complained Dagett. “Simply because I do business in a businesslike fashion you insult me. I suppose you think I ought to let you have the money for nothing. I suppose you think I ought to give it to you. Mike has paid me what he owes me.”
“Has he?” exclaimed Ditson, in surprise. “Why, I didn’t know——”
“Sit down, both of you fellows,” directed Lynch. “Sit down, I say. That’s right, Dagett, back yourself into that chair. Now, look here, Dunc, how much do you owe Mel?”
“I agreed to pay him ten dollars this week.”
“How much is the full amount that you owe him?”
“Oh, the rings are worth thirty or forty dollars. The pin is worth about ten. I don’t suppose I could get more than fifteen or eighteen on the watch, but to me it’s worth twice that, as it was a present.”
“Can you get those things and bring them here right away, Dagett?” asked Mike.
“Then hustle—hustle, I say! Get them! Go ahead now!”
Lynch smote the table with his huge fist.
Duncan Ditson gasped with astonishment, for this was the last thing he had expected from Mike.
“If he can’t pay, I can,” repeated Lynch. “We have been friendly, and I’m going to get him out of your greedy clutches, Dagett.”
“Oh, you needn’t pay the whole of it,” said Mel quickly. “I only want what’s due this week.”