'Just speak plain,
can't you?'
'If you can't understand--if you _won't_, that is--it's no good
speakin' plainer.'
'You said the other night as you didn't care about his money. If you
think he means hookin' it, let him go, and good riddance.'
'That's a fool's way of talkin'. I'm not goin' to lose it all, if I
can help it. There's a way of stoppin' him, and of gettin' the money
too.'
They both stared down at the water; it was full tide, and the muddy
surface looked almost solid.
'You wouldn't get it all,' were Bob's next words. 'I've been asking
about that.'
'You have? Who did you ask?'
'Oh, a feller you don't know. You'd only have a third part of it,
and the girl 'ud get the rest.'
'What do you call a third part?'
So complete was her stupidity, that Bob had to make a laborious
explanation of this mathematical term, She could have understood
what was meant by a half or a quarter, but the unfamiliar 'third'
conveyed no distinct meaning.
'I don't care,' she said at length. 'That 'ud be enough.'
'Clem--you'd better leave this job alone. You'd better, I warn
you.'
'I shan't,'
Another long silence. A steamboat drew up to the Temple Pier, and a
yellow shaft of sunlight fell softly upon its track in the water.
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