It's the game that's cruel,not me.I knocked 'im out all right,but wot 'ud be the use of knockin''im down with one 'and an'pickin''im up with the other?""You say yourself that he took you off the streets,and gave you a living.""So 'e did,but 'e got 'is money's worth out of me.I did the work of a man,an'saved 'im pounds for years.Yer wouldn't 'ave such a sentimental way of lookin'at things if yer'd been a steet-arab,sellin'newspapers,an'no one ter make it 'is business whether yer lived or starved.""But surely you can't see him in that condition without feeling sorry for him?""Oh yes,I can;'e's no friend of mine.'E told everybody on the Road that I went shares with the Devil,"said Jonah,with an uneasy grin.
"'Ere,I'll show yer wot 'e thinks of me."
He felt in his pocket for a coin,and crossed the street.Paasch had finished his piece,and putting his fiddle under his arm,turned to the loafers with a beseeching air.They looked the other way and discussed the weather.Then Jonah stepped up to him and thrust the coin into his hand.Paasch,feeling something unaccustomed in his fingers,held it up to the light.It was a sovereign,and he blinked in wonder at the coin then at the giver,convinced that it was a trick.Then he recognized Jonah,and a look of passionate fear and anger convulsed his features.
He threw down the coin as if it had burnt him,crying:
"No,I vill not take your cursed moneys.Give me back mine shop and mine business that you stole from me.You are a rich man and ride in your carriage,and I am the beggar,but I would not change with you.The great gods shall mock at you.Money you shall have in plenty while I starve,but never your heart's desire,for like a dog did you bite the hand that fed you."Suddenly his utterance was choked by a violent fit of coughing,and he stared at Jonah,crazed with hate and prophetic fury.A crowd began to gather,and Jonah,afraid of being recognized,walked rapidly away.
"Now yer can see fer yerself,"he cried,sullenly.
"Yes,I see,"said Clara,strangely excited;"and I think you would be as cruel with a woman as you are with a man.""I've given yer no cause ter say that,"protested Jonah.
"Perhaps not,"said Clara;"but that man won't last through the winter unless he's cared for.And if he dies,his blood will be on your head,and your luck will turn.His crazy talk made me shiver.Promise me to do something for him.""Ye're talkin'like a novelette,"said Jonah,roughly.
But Paasch's words had struck a superstitious chord in Jonah,and he went out of his way to find a plan for relieving the old man without showing his hand.He consulted his solicitors,and then an advertisement in the morning papers offered a reward to anyone giving the whereabouts of Hans Paasch,who left Hassloch in Bavaria in 1860,and who would hear of something to his advantage by calling on Harris &Harris,solicitors.
A month later Jonah held a receipt for twelve pounds ten,signed by Hans Paasch,the first instalment of an annuity of fifty pounds a year miraculously left him by a distant cousin in Germany.
He showed this to Clara while they were crossing in the boat to Mosman.
She listened to him in silence.Then a flush coloured her cheeks.
"You'll never regret that,"she said;"it's the best day's work you ever did.""I 'ope I'll never regret anythin'that gives you pleasure,"said Jonah,feeling very noble and generous,and surprised at the ease with which he turned a compliment.
They had the Point to themselves,as usual,and Clara went to the edge of the rocks to see what ships had come and gone during the week,trying to identify one that she had read about in the papers.Jonah watched her in silence,marking every detail of her tall figure with a curious sense of possession that years of intimacy had never given him with Ada.And yet she kept him at a distance with a skill that exasperated him and provoked his admiration.One day when he had held her hand a moment too long,she had withdrawn it with an explanation that sounded like an apology.
She explained that from a child she had been unable to endure the touch of another person;that she always preferred to walk rather than ride in a crowded bus or tram because bodily contact with others set her nerves on edge.It was a nervous affection,she explained,inherited from her mother.Jonah had his own opinion of this malady,but he admitted to himself that she would never enter a crowd or a crush.
The result of her pleading for Paasch had put her in a high good humour.
It was the first certain proof of her power over Jonah,and she chattered gaily.She had risen in her own esteem.But presently,to her surprise,Jonah took some papers from his pocket and frowned over them.
"It's very impolite to read in other people's company,"she remarked,with a sudden coolness.
"I beg yer pardon,"said Jonah,starting suddenly,as if a whip had touched him.She never failed to reprove him for any lapse in manners,and Jonah winced without resentment.
"I thought this might interest yer,"he continued."I'm puttin'Steel in as manager at last,an'this is the agreement.""Who advised you to do that?"said Clara,with an angry flush.
"Well,Johnson's been complainin'of overwork fer some time,but Miss Giltinan decided me.She's very keen on me openin'up branches in the suburbs.""You place great weight on Miss Giltinan's opinion,"said Clara,jealously.
"Ter tell the truth,I do,"said Jonah."Next ter yerself,she's got the best 'ead fer business of any woman I know.""I don't agree with it at all,"said Clara."You're the brains of the "Silver Shoe",and another man's ideas will clash with yours.""No fear!"said Jonah."I've got 'im tied down in black and white by my solicitors."Clara ran her eye over the typewritten document,reading some of the items aloud.
"'Turn over the stock three times a year'!What does that mean?"And she listened while Jonah explained,the position of pupil and tutor suddenly reversed.
