'I hope nobody overheard,' he said. 'They would think I was mad. Now and then, just now and then, I get like that, and then I would give all I have to get somebody to press out the wrinkles in my brain, and let it rest. I should be quite content to be poor, if I could forget all this fever in which my life has been spent. I might even do something as an art critic. There, it's all over. Sit down. There are the cigars by you. 'Now you talked to me straight enough once before,' he went on, 'and told me, I believe, the exact truth. I wanted you to start with Amelie with a clean sheet in that direction, and I want you to have a clean sheet in another. I want you to pay off all your debts. All, mind; don't come to me with more afterwards. I know it's difficult to state the whole. Please try to do so. Take time.' Bertie sat quite still a moment, with a huge up-leap of relief in his mind. 'I can't tell you accurately,' he said. 'But I am afraid they are rather large.' 'Well, a million pounds,' suggested Mr. Palmer dryly. Bertie laughed; already he could laugh. 'No, not quite,' he said. 'But between ten thousand and twenty. About twelve I should say.' 'Confiding people, English tradesmen,' remarked Mr. Palmer. 'Been going to the Jews?' 'No.' 'Well, don't. My house doesn't charge so high. Now, I'm not going to give you the money. I shall deduct it from the settlement I am going to make, the amount of which I have already determined on. Only I shall give you that at once, and ask you to pay them at once.' 'You are most generous,' said Bertie. 'I can't thank you.' 'Don't, then. Are you sure thirteen thousand will cover them? Mind, it doesn't matter to me; it is all deducted.' 'I am sure it will.' Mr. Palmer did not answer, but drew a chair to the table and wrote the cheque. 'Pay them at once, then,' he said. 'Now, you looked worried at lunch. Anything wrong?' 'It was,' said Bertie. 'It isn't now.' Mr. Palmer looked at him a moment with strong approval. 'I like you,' he said. 'Now go away. The mill has to commence again.' The relief was as profound as the oppression had been, and now that the strain was over Bertie was conscious of a luxurious relaxation; the tension and strain on his nerves had passed, and a feeling of happy weariness, as when a dreaded operation is well over, set in. He could scarcely yet find it in his mind to be bitter or angry even with Mrs. Emsworth; she had done a vile thing, but he would not any longer be in her power, and being free from it, he scarcely resented it, so strong was his relief. Mr. Palmer, he knew, had designed to make some settlement of money on him; what it was to be he did not yet know, but the fact that this had been deducted from it prevented his feeling that he had come by the money in any crooked fashion. As it was, a certain payment to be made to him had been partly anticipated, and he looked forward to paying his blackmail almost with eagerness.