Iris returned to Louvain by way of Paris. She had to settle up with the
doctor.
He obeyed her summons and called upon her at the hotel.
"Well, my lady," he began in his gross voice, rubbing his hands and
laughing, "it has come off, after all; hasn't it?"
"I do not desire, Dr. Vimpany, to discuss anything with you. We will
proceed to settle what business we have together."
"To think that your ladyship should actually fall in!" he replied. "Now
I confess that this was to me the really difficult part of the job. It
is quite easy to pretend that a man is dead, but not so easy to touch
his money. I really do not see how we could have managed at all without
your co-operation. Well, you've had no difficulty, of course?"
"None at all."
"I am to have half."
"I am instructed to give you two thousand pounds. I have the money here
for you."
"I hope you consider that I deserve this share?"
"I think, Dr. Vimpany, that whatever you get in the future or the
present you will richly deserve. You have dragged a man down to your
own level--"
"And a woman too."
"A woman too. Your reward will come, I doubt not."
"If it always takes the form of bank-notes I care not how great the
reward may be. You will doubtless, as a good Christian, expect your own
reward--for him and for you?"
"I have mine already," she replied sadly. "Now, Dr. Vimpany, let me pay
you, and get rid of your company."
He counted the money carefully and put it in the banker's bag in his
coat-pocket. "Thank you, my lady. We have exchanged compliments enough
over this job."
"I hope--I pray--that we may never set eyes on you again."
"I cannot say. People run up against each other in the strangest
manner, especially people who've done shady things and have got to keep
in the background."
"Enough!--enough!"
"The background of the world is a very odd place, I assure you. It is
full of interesting people. The society has a piquancy which you will
find, I hope, quite charming. You will be known by another name, of
course?"
"I shall not tell you by what name--"
"Tut--tut! I shall soon find out. The background gets narrower when you
fall into misery."