The Orange-Yellow Diamond | Page 6

down
to see him--he's away till then. And--you'll pay me ten per cent, on the
bit o' business, won't you, mister? Business is business, ain't it?"
"All right!" agreed Lauriston. "That's a bargain, of course."
Melky nodded and turned to his steak, and Lauriston presently left him
and went away. The plump lady at the desk gave him a smile as she
handed him his change.
"Hope to see you again, sir," she said.
Lauriston went back to his room, feeling that the world had changed.
He had paid his landlady, he had silver and copper in his pocket, he had
the chance of earning five pounds during the coming week--and he
expected a cheque for his two stories by every post. And if John Purdie
made him the loan he had asked for, he would be able to devote a
whole month to finishing his novel--and then, perhaps, there would be
fame and riches. The dismal November evening disappeared in a dream
of hope.
But by the end of the week hope was dropping to zero again with
Lauriston. No letters had arrived--either from John Purdie or the editor.
On the Sunday morning he was again face to face with the last
half-crown. He laid out his money very cautiously that day, but when
he had paid for a frugal dinner at a cheap coffee-shop, he had only a
shilling left. He wandered into Kensington Gardens that Sunday
afternoon, wondering what he had best do next. And as he stood by the
railings of the ornamental water, watching the water-fowls' doings,
somebody bade him good-day, and he turned to find the pretty girl of
the pawnshop standing at his side and smiling shyly at him.

CHAPTER THREE
THE DEAD MAN
Lauriston was thinking about Zillah at the very moment in which she
spoke to him: the memory of her dark eyes and the friendly smile that
she had given him as he left the pawnshop had come as a relief in the
midst of his speculations as to his immediate future. And now, as he
saw her real self, close to him, evidently disposed to be friendly, he
blushed like any girl, being yet at that age when shyness was still a part
of his character. Zillah blushed too--but she was more self-possessed
than Lauriston.
"I've been talking to my Cousin Melky about you," she said quickly.
"Or, rather, he's been talking to me. He says he's going to introduce you
to a man who wants his catalogue put in shape--for five pounds. Don't
you do it for five pounds! I know that man--charge him ten!"
Lauriston moved away with her down the walk.
"Oh, but I couldn't do that, now!" he said eagerly. "You see I promised
I'd do it for five."
Zillah gave him a quick glance.
"Don't you be silly!" she said. "When anybody like Melky offers you
five pounds for anything, ask them double. They'll give it. You don't
know much about money matters, do you?"
Lauriston laughed, and gaining confidence, gave the girl a knowing
look.
"Not much," he admitted, "else I wouldn't have had to do that bit of
business with you the other day."
"Oh--that!" she said indifferently. "That's nothing. You'd be astonished

if you knew what sort of people just have to run round to us, now and
then--I could tell you some secrets! But--I guessed you weren't very
well up in money matters, all the same. 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.
"Melky's a young Jew," said Zillah, calmly. "I'm not--I'm
half-and-half--a mixture. My mother was Jew--my father wasn't.
Well--if you want money to be going on with, and you've got any more
gold watches, you know where to come.