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It was like throwing a stone into a full basin, the news splashing all over him, shocking and infuriating. Mr. Prodmore went purple with rage. “Pegg has been here? That’s why she was so late getting home from the station?”
Mrs. Gracedew nodded, unrepentant, a brave, wobbly smile on her face. “He walked with her from the station. Why I got here first. I get everywhere first, you know!”
He demanded to know which direction they’d gone, his voice tight with fury, and when she refused to tell him, he shouted for his carriage again, grabbing his hat off the side table so hard the brim bent. “So you abetted and protected this wicked, low intrigue? You helped my daughter sneak around with a man I disapprove of?”
“You’re too disappointed to see your real interest,” she said, stepping into his path again, her voice urgent, pleading. “Oughtn’t I in common charity point it out? Drive after them if you like—but catch up with them only to forgive them. If you do that, I’ll pay your price, whatever it is.”
He stared at her, like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, before asking, his voice tight with greed and anger: “What do you call my price?”
“Why, the sum you just mentioned—fifty thousand pounds!” she quavered, her throat tight.
He laughed, sharp and dry, like she’d made a fool of herself. “That’s not my price—and it never for a moment was! Besides, my price is up.”
She gasped, her face going white. “Up?”
“Seventy thousand.” He was already at the door, his hand on the latch, his ultimatum clear. “It’s to take or to leave!”
She was so shocked she couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, until Captain Yule appeared at the top of the stairs, faltering at the scene below before marching down resolutely, his face set. Mrs. Gracedew leaned in, her voice a low, urgent hiss between them, no trace of the fear she’d felt a second before. “Seventy thousand, then!”
Mr. Prodmore didn’t even glance at the Captain, his eyes fixed on her. “Seventy thousand—done!” He slammed the front door behind him so hard the windows rattled, the echo of his ultimatum hanging in the hall long after he was gone.
(Word count: 1124)
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