“You want to say something. Say it quickly,” he cried. “To be frank with you, Tarbot, there are some men whom I like, and some——” “For whom you have an antipathy,” said Dr. Tarbot. Pelham nodded. “Then in that case all is fair and above board between us,” said Tarbot. “We both want the same girl; we have both fought for her. You have won and I have lost. The loser in the game has seldom an admiration for the winner, but all the same, for the sake of this girl, I will help you to do a generous thing.” “What is that?” Tarbot bent forward and said in a low tone, “I will lend Mrs. Evershed ten thousand pounds on condition that you pay me back on the day you come in for the Pelham estates.” Pelham’s face turned white. “What do you mean?” “Exactly what I say. I will lend you that sum to help Mrs. Evershed on that one condition and that alone. You will have, of course, to sign a _post obit_, but such things are done every day. On the day you come in for the estates, worth over sixty thousand a year, you will pay me back that trifling loan. Are you willing to oblige Barbara’s mother, or are you not?” CHAPTER V. “I HAVE MISJUDGED HIM.” Two or three days later Pelham received a note from Barbara Evershed. “Dearest Dick, come and see me at once,” she wrote. “Something most wonderful and unexpected has happened.” Pelham, who was just attending to his first brief, started up with an exclamation, put on his hat, and in half an hour had arrived at Mrs. Evershed’s house in Mark Place. He was admitted at once, and ran up to the drawing-room, where Barbara was waiting for him. “Dear old Dick,” she cried, “I am about the happiest girl on earth!” “But what has happened? I never saw you look so excited before.” “I have reason to be excited. We can be engaged now quite openly. Oh, how happy I am!” “And so am I, Barbara, if it is true; but has your mother given her consent?” “Yes, it is all right now. Everything has come right, and in such a wonderful, marvelous way.” “Tell me the story.” “I must begin at the beginning. You know I hinted to you about poor mother’s money difficulties?” “Yes, Barbara.” “Well, they are all put right; and so suddenly, so unexpectedly. And who do you think has done it? Why, Dr. Tarbot—the man I almost hated. He has lent mother ten thousand pounds, and on such easy terms that it will be possible for her to repay it all by degrees. “He says he doesn’t mind when the capital is returned, and she is only to pay four per cent. interest. You can’t imagine what a relief it is. The poor dear had been getting into most awful trouble, and those horrid money-lenders were getting her into their clutches.