Cassilis; and alas! that it should be so, but it is blood they want."
"Huddlestone, that's a little less than fair," said Northmour. "You should
mention that what you offered them was upward of two hundred thousand
short. The deficit is worth a reference; it is for what they call a cool
sum, Frank. Then, you see, the fellows reason in their clear Italian way;
and it seems to them, as indeed it seems to me, that they may just as well
have both while they're about it--money and blood together, by George, and
no more trouble for the extra pleasure."
"Is it in the pavilion?" I asked.
"It is; and I wish it were in the bottom of the sea instead," said
Northmour; and then suddenly--"What are you making faces at me for?" he
cried to Mr. Huddlestone, on whom I had unconsciously turned my back. "Do
you think Cassilis would sell you?"
Mr. Huddlestone protested that nothing had been further from his mind.
"It is a good thing," retorted Northmour in his ugliest manner. "You might
end by wearying us. What were you going to say?" he added, turning to me.
"I was going to propose an occupation for the afternoon," said I. "Let us
carry that money out, piece by piece, and lay it down before the pavilion
door. If the _carbonari_ come, why, it's theirs at any rate."
"No, no," cried Mr. Huddlestone; "it does not, it cannot, belong to them!
It should be distributed _pro rata_ among all my creditors.
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