" She pointed.
"And you won't help me? You won't say a word to Fabian?"
She shrugged a shoulder. "If I were a man like you, who's so big, so
lucky, and so dominant, I wouldn't ask a woman to help me. I'd do the job
myself. I'd keep faith with my reputation. But there's one nice thing
about you: you're going to help Carnac to beat Barode Barouche. You've
made a gallant offer. If you'd gone against him, if you'd played
Barouche's game, I--"
The indignation which came to her face suddenly fled, and she said:
"Honestly, I'd never speak to you again, and I always keep my word.
Carnac'll see it through. He's a man of mark, Mr. Tarboe, and he'll be
Prime Minister of the whole country one day. I don't think you'll like
it."
"You hit hard, but if I hadn't taken the business, Carnac Grier wouldn't
have got it. If it hadn't been me, it would have been some one else."
"Well, why don't you live like a rich man and not like a foreman?"
"I've been too busy to change my mode of living. I only want enough to
eat and drink and wear, and that's not costly." Suddenly an idea came to
him. "Now, if that business had been left to you, you'd be building a
stone house somewhere; and you'd have horses and carriages, and lots of
servants, and you'd swing along like a pretty coloured bird in the
springtime, wouldn't you?"
"If I had wealth, I'd make it my servant.
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