And now, Reardon, I'm ashamed of
myself, but can you without inconvenience lend me ten shillings?'
'Easily.'
'I must write to two pupils, to inform them of my change of
address--from garret to cellar. And I must ask help from my
prosperous brother. He gives it me unreluctantly, I know, but I
am always loth to apply to him. May I use your paper for these
purposes?'
The brother of whom he spoke was employed in a house of business
at Liverpool; the two had not met for years, but they
corresponded, and were on terms such as Harold indicated. When he
had finished his letters, and had received the half-sovereign
from Reardon, he went his way to deposit the brown-paper parcel
at the publishers'. The clerk who received it from his hands
probably thought that the author might have chosen a more
respectable messenger.
Two days later, early in the evening, the friends were again
enjoying each other's company in Reardon's room. Both were
invalids, for Biffen had of course caught a cold from his
exposure in shirt-sleeves on the roof, and he was suffering from
the shock to his nerves; but the thought that his novel was safe
in the hands of publishers gave him energy to resist these
influences.
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