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Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924

"Chance"

I could hardly contain myself." That was her
affair. He was, with a young man's squeamishness, rather sick of her
ferocity. He did not understand it. Men do not accumulate hate against
each other in tiny amounts, treasuring every pinch carefully till it
grows at last into a monstrous and explosive hoard. He had run out after
her to remind her of the balance at the bank. What about lifting that
money without wasting any more time? She had promised him to leave
nothing behind.
An account opened in her name for the expenses of the establishment in
Brighton, had been fed by de Barral with deferential lavishness. The
governess crossed the wide hall into a little room at the side where she
sat down to write the cheque, which he hastened out to go and cash as if
it were stolen or a forgery. As observed by the Fynes, his uneasy
appearance on leaving the house arose from the fact that his first
trouble having been caused by a cheque of doubtful authenticity, the
possession of a document of the sort made him unreasonably uncomfortable
till this one was safely cashed.


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