the company.
"Two quid?" he said, stiffly. "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 amatter-of-fact voice.
Mr. Carter started, and gazed at her uneasily. The smile on her lip andthe triumphant gleam in her eye were a revelation to him. He turned toMr. Evans and in as calm a voice as he could assume, requested him todischarge the debt. Mr. Prout, his fingers twitching, stood waiting"Well, it's your money," said Mr. Evans, grudgingly extracting a pursefrom 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 asMr. Prout, snatching up the money, bolted headlong from the room. Hissurprise 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 hegave instructions for the payment of the other three gentlemen whopresented claims during the evening endorsed by Miss Evans. As the lastdeparted Mr. Evans, whose temper had been gradually getting beyond hiscontrol, 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'swhat you are."
He pointed to the door, and Mr. Carter, after twice opening his lips tospeak and failing, blundered towards it. Miss Evans watched himcuriously.
"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 aslight touch of conscience. "If you hadn't come here pretending to beBert Simmons and calling me 'Nan' as if you had known me all my life, Iwouldn't have done it."
"It doesn't matter," said Mr. Carter. "I wish I was Bert Simmons, that'sall. Good-by."
"Wish you was!" said Mr. Evans, who had been listening in open-mouthedastonishment. "Look here! Man to man--are you Bert Simmons or are younot?"
"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 havethat money out of 'em," he roared, "if I have to hold 'em up and shake itout of their trouser-pockets. You stay here."
He hurried up the road, and Jim, with the set face of a man going intoaction against heavy odds, followed him.
"Your father told me to stay," said Mr. Carter, coming farther into theroom.
Nancy looked up at him through her eyelashes. "You need not unless youwant to," she said, very softly.
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