There was an instant's hesitation, and the die was cast. Macfarlane could not suppress a nervous twitch, the infinitesimal mark of an immense relief, as he felt the key between his fingers.He opened the cupboard, brought out pen and ink and a paper-book that stood in one compartment, and separated from the funds in a drawer a sum suitable to the occasion.
"Now, look here," he said, "there is the payment made—first proof of your good faith:first step to your security. You have now to clinch it by a second.Enter the payment in your book, and then you for your part may defy the devil."
The next few seconds were for Fettes an agony of thought;but in balancing his terrors it was the most immediate that triumphed. Any future difficulty seemed almost welcome if he could avoid a present quarrel with Macfarlane.He set down the candle which he had been carrying all this time, and with a steady hand entered the date, the nature, and the amount of the transaction.
"And now," said Macfarlane, "it's only fair that you should pocket the lucre. I've had my share already.By the bye, when a man of the world falls into a bit of luck, has a few shillings extra in his pocket—I'm ashamed to speak of it, but there's a rule of conduct in the case.No treating, no purchase of expensive class-books, no squaring of old debts;borrow, don't lend."
"Macfarlane," began Fettes, still somewhat hoarsely, "I have put my neck in a halter to oblige you."
"To oblige me?" cried Wolfe. "Oh, come!You did, as near as I can see the matter, what you downright had to do in self-defence. Suppose I got into trouble, where would you be?This second little matter flows clearly from the first.Mr.Gray is the continuation of Miss Galbraith.You can't begin and then stop.If you begin, you must keep on beginning;that's the truth.No rest for the wicked."
A horrible sense of blackness and the treachery of fate seized hold upon the soul of the unhappy student.