Barry Pain

“ You must not break off the engagement. You may say that she has lost all attraction for you, and that you no longer have the slightest affection for her. You may say that the more you see of her character, the less you like it. ”

“ Lorriman's thought rightly that this was worth something.
Then Andrew McKiddle went mad. He lost—out of business hours—his sense of the value of money. He bought clothes that he did not absolutely need, he took dancing lessons, he had his nails manicured, and—it all led up to that—he got engaged to Anna Ware, who was beautiful, twenty-five, and private secretary to an eminent Egyptologist. He had met her only three times, and he knew next to nothing about her.
Herbert Johnson shook his head over the engagement. He despaired. ”

“ You're the prey of a designing woman. That Miss Ware is a harpy. The thing's obvious. Leaving out personal appearance and a few other things, you're quite a catch for a girl like that. Did you tell her what income you'd got?"
"I didn't state it exactly. I said that I thought we could depend on six hundred a year, or a little more."
"Quite so. As I happen to know, and as Miss Ware's solicitors will soon discover when she presses her action for breach of promise, you've got nine hundred a year from salary and investments. She never meant to marry you. ”

“ The coroner might say anything, and it wouldn't do me any good at Lorriman's, either."
"I shouldn't worry about that, if I were you," said Johnson, "These torrential passions aren't much worn nowadays. In any case, I doubt if any girl of that age has ever managed to work it up for a man of fifty like yourself." ”

“ ANDREW McKIDDLE was no genius, but he was a worker. He got into Lorriman's at the age of eighteen, meant to stop there, and did. Some thought him mean, but then he had three elderly relatives whom he felt he might at some future time be called upon to help to support. The clan feeling was strong in McKiddle. ”

“ Once he starts, there's no stopping him. He began to find a lot more faults, all unjust, and I began to cry, and he said I was a fool, and had better go out to lunch. I went out to lunch, and abused the waiter for adding up my bill wrong, and he'd added it up quite right. I went back to work, and the old man kept me two hours overtime without even apologising. So I got no time for dinner, and was half an hour late for the dancing. ”

“ The elderly relatives all died, and all left a little money to Andrew. The family was reticent in family matters, and preferred to seem poorer than it really was. Andrew was advanced by Lorriman's. He felt justified in moving from his lodgings to a small flat in a block near the British Museum. His chief friend, Herbert Johnson, managing clerk to Murdle and Biston, solicitors, occupied a flat in the same building. ”