I was initiated less into the card-playing than Tod, and never once was asked to make one at pool, probably because it was taken for granted that I had less money to stake. Which was true. Tod had not much, for the matter of that: and it never struck me to think he was losing wholesale. I got home one night at twelve, having been dining at Miss Deveen's and going to a concert with her afterwards. Tod was not in, and I sat up in our room, writing to Mr. Brandon, which I had put off doing until I felt ashamed. Tod came in as I was folding the letter. It was hot weather, and he stretched himself out at the open window. "Are you going to stop there all night, Tod?" I asked by-and-by. "It's one o'clock." "I may as well stop here, for all the sleep I shall get in bed," was his answer, as he brought his head in. "I'm in an awful mess, Johnny." "What kind of mess?" "Debt." "Debt! What for?" "Card-playing," answered Tod, shortly. "And betting at pool." "Why do you play?" "I'll be shot if I would ever have touched one of their cards, or their billiard balls either, had I known what was to come of it. Let me once get out of this hole, and neither Gusty Pell nor Crayton shall ever draw me in again. I'll promise them _that_." "How much is it?" "That I owe? Twenty-five pounds." "Twenty-five--what?" I cried, starting up. "Don't wake up the next room, Johnny. Twenty-five pounds. And not a stiver in my pocket to go on with. I owe it to Crayton." Sitting on the edge of his bed, he told me how the thing had crept upon him. At first they only played for shillings; one night Crayton suddenly changed the stakes to sovereigns. The other fellows playing took it as a matter of course, and Tod did not like to make a fuss, and get up---- "I should, Tod," I interrupted. "I dare say you would," he retorted. "I didn't. But I honestly told them that if I lost much, my purse would not stand it. Oh that need not trouble you, they said. When we rose, that night, I owed Crayton nineteen pounds." "They must be systematic gamblers!" "No, not that. Gentlemen who play high. Since then I have played, hoping to redeem my losses--they tell me I shall be sure to do it. But the redemption has not come yet, for it is twenty-five pounds now." "Tod," I said, after a pause, "it would about kill the Pater." "It would awfully vex him. And that's what is doing the mischief, you see, Johnny. I can't write home for the money without telling him what I want it for; he'd never give it me unless I said: and I can't cut our visit short to the Pells and leave Crayton in debt." "But--_what's_ to be done, Tod?" "Nothing until I get some luck, and win enough back to pay him." "You may get deeper into the mire." "Yes--there's that chance." "It will never do to go on playing." "Will you tell me what else I am to do? I must continue to play: or pay."