I am speaking in your interest, not in mine."
"My interest?"
"Certainly. You can't get safely away from York to-morrow without the
chaise. And I can't get the chaise without money. The landlady's brother
will lend it if he sees his sister's bill receipted, and if he gets his
day's hire beforehand--not otherwise. Allow me to put the transaction
in a business light. We have agreed that I am to be remunerated for my
course of dramatic instruction out of your future earnings on the stage.
Very good. I merely draw on my future prospects; and you, on whom those
prospects depend, are naturally my banker. For mere argument's sake,
estimate my share in your first year's salary at the totally inadequate
value of a hundred pounds. Halve that sum; quarter that sum--"
"How much do you want?" said Magdalen, impatiently.
Captain Wragge was sorely tempted to take the Reward at the top of
the handbills as his basis of calculation. But he felt the vast future
importance of present moderation; and actually wanting some twelve
or thirteen pounds, he merely doubled the amount, and said,
"Five-and-twenty."
Magdalen took the little bag from her bosom, and gave him the money,
with a contemptuous wonder at the number of words which he had wasted on
her for the purpose of cheating on so small a scale.
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