Hilda made a face at me, and then she and Tucek were laughing. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy as I was then, seeing those two laughing together.
She came round the bed and handed me my jacket.’ I think, Dick, you have something for my father.’ It was still torn and dirty, just as it had been — and the pockets bulged. I put my hand into one of the pockets and the first thing I touched was Zina’s automatic. I put it down softly on the table beside me and then I got out the two packages that had been hidden so long in the shaft of my leg. I handed them to Tucek.
He took them and stood staring at them for a long time.
Then he put the oilskin package in his pocket and tossed the chamois leather bag on to the bed. ‘That one I think we will split fifty-fifty, Dick.’
I stared at him and saw he meant it. ‘No,’ I said. ‘I can’t—’ And then I stopped and glanced at Hilda. ‘All right,’ I said. ‘I’ll accept your offer — provided you let me trade back my half in exchange for your daughter.’
‘For that,’ Hilda said, two spots of colour showing on her cheeks, ‘you get another injection, my boy.’
And for the second time within a few minutes I saw Jan Tucek laugh. ‘I think it is a bad bargain you make,’ he said. ‘But all right.’
Hilda took hold of my arm and jabbed the needle into it. And then she bent and kissed me. ‘I’ll see he gives me some of it for a dowry,’ she whispered. ‘I still want that thatched cottage near to the sea.’