His best friends, who had been
privileged to hear George's vocabulary when he was rather angry, admitted
that the young man had a fluency of expression which was very more terse
than proper. When the real significance of the despatch became apparent
to him, George outdid himself in this particular line. Then he realized
that, however consolatory such language is to a very angry man, it does
little good in any practical way. He paced silently up and down the room,
wondering what he could do, and the more he wondered the less light he
saw through the fog. He put on his hat and went into the other room.
'Henry,' he said to his partner, 'do you know anybody who would lend me
twenty thousand pounds?'
Henry laughed. The idea of anybody lending that sum of money, except on
the very best security, was in itself extremely comic.
'Do you want it to-day?' he said.
'Yes, I want it to-day.'
'Well, I don't know any better plan than to go out into the street and
ask every man you meet if he has that sum about him. You are certain to
encounter men who have very much more than twenty thousand pounds, and
perhaps one of them, struck by your very sane appearance at the moment,
might hand over the sum to you. I think, however, George, that you would
be more successful if you met the capitalist in a secluded lane some
dark night, and had a good reliable club in your hand.'
'You are right,' said George. 'Of course, there is just as much
possibility of my reaching the moon as getting that sum of money on
short notice.
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