After he had been speaking to her without interruption for some minutes,
Katty exclaimed: "Yes, I think I see now exactly what you mean! There
certainly doesn't seem much risk attached to it--at any rate as regards
the start off, as it were. But what made these French bankers pick _you_
out, Godfrey? After all, they're doing you a very good turn."
"I don't exactly know why they picked me out, as you call it----" he
spoke hesitatingly. "But during that year I spent in Paris I came across
a great many of that sort of people. My father got me the best possible
introductions."
The piece of paper on which he had jotted certain notes and calculations
was a large piece of thin foreign notepaper covered with small
handwriting in the diluted ink which some French business men use.
"Can you read French?" he asked doubtfully.
She answered rather sharply, "Yes, of course I can!" and held out her
hand.
The letter, which bore a Paris address, and the date of a fortnight
back, was from the French banking house of Zosean & Co. It explained at
some length that a client of the bank, a wealthy South American of
Portuguese extraction named Fernando Apra, had become possessed of an
estate on the coast of Portugal to which was attached a gambling
concession. The idea was to make the place a kind of Portuguese Monte
Carlo, and the present possessor was very desirous that English capital
and English brains should be put into the company. The returns promised
were enormous, and there seemed to be little or no risk attached to the
business--if it was run on the right lines.
"I have gone into the matter very thoroughly," said Godfrey Pavely, "and
I have convinced myself that it's all right. This Fernando Apra already
has a London office. I managed to see him there for a few minutes last
week. His real headquarters are in Paris."
"And are you finding all the money?" asked Katty eagerly. "Will it be
all your money and _my_ thousand pounds, Godfrey? In that case I
suppose we shall get all the profits?"
He smiled a little at woman's cupidity. "No," he said, "I haven't been
able to find it all myself. But I've managed to get in a very good man.
Some one with whom I've done business before, Katty."
"What's his name?" she asked inquisitively.
Godfrey Pavely waited a moment. "I don't know that I ought to tell
you--" he said uncomfortably. "He doesn't want to appear in the
business."
"Of course you ought to tell me!" All sorts of strange ideas floated
through Katty's mind. Was he going to say "Oliver Tropenell"? She rather
expected he was.
"Well, I _will_ tell you," he said, "for I know you can hold your
tongue. The name of the man who's going into this business with me is
Greville Howard."
"D'you mean the big money-lender?" Katty couldn't help a little tone of
doubt, of rather shocked surprise, creeping into her voice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account