He would go to endless trouble to try to make money out of his crack-pot schemes, although he wouldn’t stir a finger to get himself a job that would bring him in a legitimate income.
‘I think I’ll go to bed now,’ she said abruptly. ‘I’m tired. You can stay here for the night if you want to.’ ‘I was going to suggest it,’ he said, smiling. ‘But don’t run away just yet. I want to talk to you about my new idea. By the way, pet, how are you off for money?’
‘How much do you want?’
He sat up, his face suddenly ugly with rage.
‘Don’t keep assuming I’m going to sponge on you, damn you!’ he said. ‘I’m asking you how much longer you can keep this apartment on now you haven’t Kile to pay the bil s?’
‘I shall go back to the Follies,’ she said. ‘I shan’t stay here. If you want any money, I can let you have fifty dollars.’
‘I don’t want your money,’ he said shortly. ‘Now look, let’s be sensible about this. There’s no point in going back to the Follies. Besides, you don’t know if they’l have you back.’ He got up and poured himself another whisky. ‘As a matter of fact, the Rajah has taken a fancy to you.’
Eve stood motionless, looking at Gillis.
‘What did you say?’
‘The Rajah’s taken a fancy to you,’ Gil is said, his smile becoming fixed. ‘He would like you to go back with him to Chittabad. I promised to talk it over with you.’
Eve went a shade paler.
‘I don’t understand. Do you know him? How did you come to meet him?’
Gillis waved an airy hand.
‘Why, of course I know him. I met him in India. As a matter of fact, I did him one or two little services: nothing very grand, but he was impressed by my usefulness.’
‘You mean you introduced him to some white women who were accommodating?’
Gillis lost his smile.
‘There’s no need to be sarcastic,’ he said curtly. ‘I just happened to be useful. I forget what I did. We became friendly and he told me about the collection. Between us we engineered the plan to get hold of Hater.’
‘Oh, I see. Then why did you bring Preston and me into it? I always thought it was odd the Rajah saw me so easily. You had arranged all that before you told me to go and see him?’
‘Of course,’ Gil is said, poured whisky into his glass and sipped it. ‘We decided it would be safer to have a stooge in case things went sour on us. That’s why we picked on Kile. We were just safeguarding ourselves. That’s all.’
‘I see.’ She began to move around the room again. ‘You didn’t bother about what would happen to me if things went sour, as you call it.’
‘Oh, rot! Nothing was likely to happen to you. We knew that. The police wouldn’t be interested in you.’
‘If Preston had told them it was my idea — as he thought it was — they might have been,’ Eve said, going to the window and pushing back the curtain to look down at the rain-soaked street.
‘I knew Kile was too much of a gentleman to implicate you,’ Gil is said easily. ‘I had it all planned pretty neatly. It was just bad luck it flopped. Anyway, that’s all ancient history now. You’ve got your future to think of. The Rajah will make you a settlement.’
She didn’t say anything or look round.
‘Did you hear what I said?’ Gil is demanded, raising his voice.
‘Yes.’
‘I’ve persuaded him to be pretty generous. Of course he’s not as rich as he was, and this Hater business has rather put a spoke in his wheel, but he’s still got plenty,’ Gil is went on. ‘You’l like the life out there. Of course women don’t get quite so much freedom as here, but there are other compensations.
He’s got a magnificent palace, and he still owns a lot of diamonds and jewelery. He’ll want you to wear them.’
‘I was under the impression he was married,’ Eve said, still with her back turned.
Gillis laughed.
‘Well, you know what these Rajahs are,’ he said. ‘It won’t make any difference to you. They look on these things differently out there. There’s nothing for you to worry about. Anyway, his present wife’s not a patch on you.’
She didn’t say anything.
‘He’s going to stay here for one more week in the hope Baird’ll get in touch with him. He’ll be sailing on the 30th. We’ll travel with him. You’ll enjoy it, Eve. Everything first class, and he’ll give you a pretty substantial cheque for an outfit. He likes his women to look smart.’
‘He is giving you a job, then, Adam?’
‘Well , of course. I’m going to be his confidential secretary. The pickings should be pretty good.
You’ll find that out, too. Of course it won’t be a permanent thing. I don’t think the chap will last much more than five or six years at the rate he’s spending his money. But you and I will be able to feather our nests pretty well by then.’
‘I’m glad you’ve got a job, Adam. I hope you’ll be very successful, and have a lot of pickings.’
He looked at her slim back suspiciously.
‘I’ll take good care I am successful,’ he said shortly. ‘But never mind about me. I told him you’d cal at his hotel tomorrow and have lunch with him. Naturally he’s anxious to get to know you as soon as possible.’
‘I’m sorry to disappoint him, but I won’t be able to go,’ Eve said, still with her back turned.
‘But you can’t have anything more important to do than to see him,’ Gil is said sharply. ‘You must go.’
She turned then, and he was startled to see how white she was, and how her eyes glittered.
‘Do you realise what you are suggesting?’ she asked, in a cold, level ed voice. ‘Do you realise this man’s coloured?’
‘Now, please don’t be ridiculous,’ Gil is said. ‘The Rajah’s a high-born gentleman. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge.’
‘That doesn’t make the slightest difference to me. Anyway, even if he wasn’t coloured, the answer’s still no. I’m going back to the Fol ies. I’ve had enough of this kind of life.’
‘My dear girl, I doubt if the Follies would have you. There’ll be a hell of a scandal when the press hear Kile’s been arrested. I can’t imagine the Follies will want the discarded mistress of a jail-bird decorating their theatre.’
She looked away, biting her lip, her hands clenched into tight fists.
‘Now, look, do be sensible, Eve,’ Gil is said, pressing his advantage. ‘See the Rajah tomorrow. He’s got a lot of charm. He won’t rush you. Maybe on the boat you’l be expected to do your job, but certainly not until you get on the boat.’
‘You’d better go, Adam,’ she said, without looking at him.
He stared at her, startled.
‘What do you mean?’
‘What I say. I don’t want to see you again. I’ve been trying to make up my mind to end our sordid association for weeks, but I’ve never had the courage. But I have now. There was a time, Adam, when I loved you. I was ready to do anything for you, but you’ve killed all that. Looking at you now, I can’t understand why I have been such an utter fool. Well, I’m glad you’ve got a job. I’m glad you’re going to India. We needn’t meet again. I sincerely hope we don’t.’ She turned back to the window. ‘Please go now.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Eve,’ Gil is said, with an uneasy laugh, ‘You don’t mean it. As soon as I get home you’ll cal me up as you always do. Let’s get down to earth. This is a chance of a lifetime for both of us.’
‘Will you please go?’
There was something in her voice that made him realise suddenly that she meant what she said. He experienced a sick, empty feeling of rage.