Payment Deferred · Chapters
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Chapter companions for Payment Deferred by C. S. Forester.
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Chapter 1
I
Mr. Marble, overwhelmed by financial despair and domestic frustration, contemplates his debts and his photography hobby while yearning for a drink. His nephew Jim Medland visits, and Marble, noticing Medland's wealth, begins scheming to borrow money, even as he rudely interrogates him and sends his children to bed early.
Chapter 2
II
Annie Marble wakes with a headache and reflects on her husband's recent worries and the visit from his nephew Jim, hoping it has resolved their financial troubles. Mr. Marble behaves strangely, obsessively checking the backyard, paying off a debt with treasury notes, and forbidding the washerwoman from coming. He returns home tired, drinks whisky, and snaps at Annie, who is left hurt and confused.
Chapter 3
III
Mr. Marble is consumed by paranoia and guilt after murdering his nephew Jim. He obsesses over buying his house to secure the buried body, but his finances are strained. He reads a book on famous criminals and becomes terrified that he will be caught due to inability to dispose of the body. His drinking increases, and he struggles to maintain normalcy with his family.
Chapter 4
IV
Mr. Marble, observed at the bank as increasingly worried and drinking, hatches a speculative scheme to profit from a predicted rise in the French franc. He approaches bookmaker Saunders in a pub, revealing his plan to use Saunders as a customer to facilitate a forward operation on margin, aiming for enormous returns.
Chapter 5
V
Mr. Marble, consumed by paranoia and guilt after burying a body in his garden, obsessively reads crime and toxicology books, particularly fixating on cyanide. He fears discovery by neighbors or children and is tormented by the possibility of the French franc falling, which would ruin his speculative investment and expose his crimes. Despite a brief temptation to sell for a small profit, he resolves to continue the risky venture, and the chapter ends with the franc rising, offering him a temporary reprieve.
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