"The word of honor of a disgraced man! Will you accept it?" "Most certainly." "You are a queer chap, and no mistake. Very well, I give it. At the same time, I cannot help dying of starvation. I lost my last cent to-night at roulette. I am hopelessly involved in debts which I cannot pay. I have no prospects and no friends. You are not doing me a kindness, my dear fellow, in keeping me alive, even for seven days." "You might have obtained your fare to London from the authorities of the Casino?" "Hardly. I lost very little at roulette. I am not such a fool. My losses are nearly all in bets over the pigeon-shooting match which I ought to have won. I was backing myself at a game where I was apparently sure to succeed." "Until you were beaten by a woman's voice." "Yes, wizard. I am too dazed to wonder at you sufficiently. Yet I would have lost fifty times for her sake, though it was for her sake that I wanted to win." "Come, let us smoke. Sit down, and tell me all about it." They took the nearest seat, lighting cigarettes. The guard, watching them from the shade of a huge palm-tree, murmured: "Holy Virgin, what madmen are these English! They move apart, unknown; they fight; they fraternize; they consume tobacco--all within five minutes." And he lovingly felt for the louis to assure himself that he was not dreaming. "There is not much to tell," said Mensmore, who had quite recovered his self-control, and was now trying to sum up the man who had so curiously entered his life at the moment when he had decided to do away with it. "I came here, being a poor chap living mostly on my wits, to go in for the pigeon-shooting tournaments. I won several, and was in fair funds. Then I fell in love. The girl is rich, well-connected, and all that sort of thing. She is the first good influence that has crossed my life, so I thought that perhaps my luck was now going to turn. I backed myself for all I was worth, and more, to win the championship. If it came off I should have won over £3,000. As it is, I owe £500, which must be paid on Monday. My total assets, after I settled my hotel bill and sent a cheque to a chum who took some of my bets in his own name, was £16. Now I have nothing. So you see--" "Yes," interrupted Bruce, "it is a hard case. But death is no settlement. Nobody gets paid, and everybody is worried." "My dear fellow, my life is in your keeping for seven days. After that, I presume, I take myself in charge again." The barrister took thought for a while before he inquired: "Why did you go to the Casino to-night, if you did not patronize the tables as a rule?" The other colored somewhat and laughed sarcastically. "Just a final bit of folly. I dreamt that my luck had turned." "Dreamt?"