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Page 53
In spite of herself Nesta gave way to a slight cry.
"I can't bear any more of that!" she said. "Have you finished?"
"There's not much more to say--now at any rate," replied Pratt. "And
what I have to say shall be to the point. I'm sorry enough to have been
obliged to say all that I have said. But, you know, you forced me to it!
You threatened me. The real truth, Miss Mallathorpe, is just this--you
don't understand me at all. You come here--excuse my plain
speech--hectoring and bullying me with talk about the police, and
blackmail, and I don't know what! It's I who ought to go to the police!
I could have your mother arrested, and put in the dock, on a charge of
attempted murder, this very day! I've got all the proofs."
"I suppose you held that out as a threat to her when you forced her to
sign that power of attorney?" observed Nesta.
For the first time since her arrival Pratt looked at his visitor in an
unfriendly fashion. His expression changed and his face flushed a
little.
"You think that, do you?" he said. "Well, you're wrong. I'm not a fool.
I held out no such threat. I didn't even tell your mother what I'd found
out. I wasn't going to show her my hand all at once--though I've shown
you a good deal of it."
"Not all?" she asked quickly.
"Not all," answered Pratt with a meaning glance. "To use more
metaphors--I've several cards up my sleeve, Miss Mallathorpe. But you're
utterly wrong about the threats. I'll tell you--I don't mind that--how I
got the authority you're speaking about. Your mother had promised me
that stewardship--for life. I'd have been a good steward. But we
recognized that your brother's death had altered things--that you,
being, as she said, a self-willed young woman--you see how plain I
am--would insist on looking after your own affairs. So she gave
me--another post. I'll discharge its duties honestly."
"Yes," said Nesta, "but you've already told me that you'd a hold on my
mother before any of these recent events happened, and that you possess
some document which she was anxious to get into her hands. So it comes
to this--you've a double hold on her, according to your story."
"Just so," agreed Pratt. "You're right, I have--a double hold."
Nesta looked at him silently for a while: Pratt looked at her.
"Very well," she said at last. "How much do you want--to be bought out?"
Pratt laughed.
"I thought that would be the end of it!" he remarked. "Yes--I thought
so!"
"Name your price!" said Nesta.
"Miss Mallathorpe!" answered Pratt, bending forward and speaking with a
new earnestness. "Just listen to me. It's no good. I'm not to be bought
out. Your mother tried that game with me before. She offered me first
five, then ten thousand pounds--cash down--for that document, when she
came to see me at my rooms. I dare say she'd have gone to twenty
thousand--and found the money there and then. But I said no then--and I
say no to you! I'm not to be purchased in that way. I've my own ideas,
my own plans, my own ambitions, my own--hopes. It's not any use at all
for you to dangle your money before me. But--I'll suggest something
else--that you can do."
Nesta made no answer. She continued to look steadily at the man who
evidently had her mother in his power, and Pratt, who was watching her
intently, went on speaking quietly but with some intensity of tone.
"You can do this," he said. "To start with--and it'll go a long
way--just try and think better of me. I told you, you don't understand
me. Try to! I'm not a bad lot. I've great abilities. I'm a hard worker.
Eldrick & Pascoe could tell you that I'm scrupulously honest in money
matters. You'll see that I'll look after your mother's affairs in a
fashion that'll commend itself to any firm of auditors and accountants
who may look into my accounts every year. I'm only taking the salary
from her that I was to have had for the stewardship. So--why not leave
it at that? Let things be! Perhaps--in time you'll come to see that--I'm
to be trusted."
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