Part 5 (1/2)

”It may be, Helen. It is full of promise, but it may not mature. I know the proposition pretty thoroughly and I know Elijah Berl. The elements of this may not be so solid as they appear.”

”The watershed is all right, isn't it?”

”Without a question.”

”The water can be brought from the reservoir to the lands?”

”No question about that, either.”

”And the land is fertile and suited to oranges?”

”That's true too, but it needs money.”

”You'll get that all right.”

”I expect to, without doubt.”

Helen had spoken with growing animation.

”Then the whole doubt in your mind centres in Elijah Berl?”

”You've hit it exactly.”

”And yet you are a friend of Elijah's?” There was a touch of contempt in her voice.

”Yes.”

”Then I must say that I don't value your friends.h.i.+p quite so highly as I did.” Helen made no attempt to conceal her disapproval.

Winston spoke deliberately, weighing every word.

”I'm sorry to hear you say that, Helen. Your friends.h.i.+p means a great deal to me. Just remember that in a way you have come to me for advice.

If not advice exactly, you really ask for the approval of what I cannot approve without reserve. I have counted you as my friend. If I have seemed to be a traitor to Elijah, it is only that I might be true to you. I would not say to any one else what I have said to you.”

Helen's resentment died away before Winston's words.

”You haven't answered my first question yet. You seem able, if you only will.”

”In a way, yes. Elijah Berl and I are partners.”

”Partners!” Helen did not try to conceal her surprise.

”Yes. The agreement was signed today. Elijah was more than generous in his terms.”

”And yet you could say what you did of him!”

”Yes. I gave him fair warning. I didn't tell him in so many words that I distrusted him; I simply said that our different views of things might in the future bring us into conflict. If he couldn't understand that, it was useless to say more.”