Under The Net - Iris Murdoch [37]
Nottingham?' I asked without interest. 'Wait,' said Sammy, who was glued to the phone again. I began to roll gently under the sofa. Then I heard him shout, 'By God, we've done it! I said you had a lucky face!' I rolled out again and my torso regained the vertical. 'Peter of Alex at nine to two!' shouted Sammy. 'Quick, open another bottle!' We both struggled with the bottle, broke a glass, and sat on the floor laughing like mad things and toasting each other. The room was beginning to undulate gently about me and I wasn't sure that I knew what was happening. Sammy was shouting, 'Well done the old firm!' and 'Can I pick them or can I pick them!' and checking his sums. 'Look,' he said, 'Saint Cross was at seven to two, that makes ninety pounds on Hal Adair at two to one on, that makes a hundred and thirty-five pounds on Peter of Alex at nine to two, that makes seven hundred and twenty-two pounds ten. Considering the meetings, it's decent odds. What did I tell you? Better than scribbling, what?' Sammy waved the bottle in the air. 'Wait a moment,' I said. 'There's the forty pounds that went down on Queen's Rook and there's the each way bet at Salisbury.' Oh, forget it!' said Sammy. 'Remember the bookie wins every day. That's why I've enjoyed this so much.' No, you damn well stick to the agreement!' I shouted. What was left of my honour was at stake. After some more shouting Sammy agreed to the deduction. 'All right, Donaghue,' he said. 'That makes six hundred and thirty-three pounds ten. I'll write the cheque now. The money'll go into my account.' He produced his cheque-book again. This sobered me up. I had a curious sense of being back at the beginning, only now Sammy was offering me three times as much. I couldn't credit it, now that the excitement was over, that Sammy could really have won so much cash just by saying things into the telephone. I told Sammy this and he laughed at me. 'Your trouble is,' he said, 'you're too used to sweating blood for money. But that's not the way to get it. Just lie on your back and whistle and it'll come.' Eventually we agreed that Sammy should wait to send me the cheque until he had received the account showing his winnings. That would convince me that the transaction was real. He exclaimed a lot about how decent it was of me to trust him, and I gave him Dave's address and staggered up to go. Sammy ordered me a taxi. He was so far from disputing my claim to the radiogram that I think he would have let me take away the whole flat and helped me to carry it down the stairs. We stowed the radiogram beside the taxi-driver and then took leave of each other with many exclamations of regard. 'That was good sport!' said Sammy. We must do it another day!' The taxi took me to the Goldhawk Road, and the taxi-driver conveyed both me and the radiogram up the stairs. I burst in on Dave and Finn, laughing like a lunatic. When they asked me what was so funny I told them I was going to take a job as Sadie's bodyguard--and this when I explained it certainly seemed funny enough. I said nothing about either Hugo or Sammy. Finn and Dave received my project, the latter with sarcasm, the former with expectant interest. I think I am a constant source of entertainment to Finn. After that I went to bed and fell into a drunken sleep.
Six
It was about 9.15, on the appointed morning, when I reached Welbeck Street, as I had to go first to Mrs Tinckham's to collect my manuscripts. I found the door open and Sadie fretting and fuming about the hall. 'My dear creature,' she said, 'thank heavens you've come. When I say dawn to dusk I mean dawn to dusk. You've made me madly late. Never mind, don't look like that, come in. I see you've brought enough scribbling-paper to last a year. That's just as well. Listen, I want you, just for today and tomorrow, to stay here all day. Do you mind? I'll feel better if I know someone's here all the time. There's oceans to drink and the fridge is just full of salmon and raspberries and things. Don't invite your friends in though, there's an angel. If Belfounder or anybody telephones just say