I learned that her
mistress was pressed for money. That was an opening worth working on.
Thereafter I contrived to be present whenever there was a bridge party
at the lady's. They are pretty high gamblers, those English society
women, and I came to see that the lady was generally a heavy loser.
It was my good fortune for her to lose to me one night. Now, it is
the custom at these gatherings not to hand over cash; instead, the
unlucky one pays with what corresponds to an "on demand note." I took
her note that night and with others--the whereabouts of which I
learned from the maid and which I indirectly purchased from the
holders--I took all these to a notorious money-lender and made a deal
with him. He was to take the notes and press the lady for payment, of
course keeping my name out of it. It is obvious that, trying as I was
to w in her confidence, I could not go myself and hold these
obligations over her head. That same day the money-lender paid the
lady a call. He paid her a good many other calls, harassing her,
threatening legal action and driving her until she was almost to a
state of nervous collapse. Well-placed sympathies soon made her talk
and she burst out pettishly that she was in debt and that most of her
acquaintances were in debt--nothing unusual in that set.
This was an opportune chance to be of material benefit to the lady.
Seriously we talked over her affairs.
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