"He inquired about your friend—the divinity student." Bodney was silent, and to him it seemed that he was groping about in his own mind, searching for his resolution, but he could not find it. The preacher might have asked about the divinity student, the wretch mused, but of course he wanted ten dollars; and what if it should be known at the house that he had borrowed the money? "Howard, can you let me have twenty-five dollars?" "What, haven’t you—you any money?" "None that I can get hold of. I haven’t said anything about it, but the fact is, I have invested in suburban lots, and can make a good profit any time I care to sell out, but I don’t want to sell just now." "Ah, business man, eh?" said Howard, crumpling the paper which he had covered with rhymes and throwing it into the waste basket. "Well, I am going to do something of that sort myself. I am glad you told me. Yes, I’ll let you have twenty-five. I have just about that amount with me." Bodney took the money and seized his hat. "If Goyle comes in, tell him I don’t know when I’ll be back. By the way, do you suppose Bradley went home?" [Illustration: Bodney took the money.] "Yes, I think so—in fact, he remarked that he was going home to do some work. Why?" "Nothing, only he seemed interested in the young fellow I sat up with—wanted to go with me to see him, in fact." With a determination to pay the druggist and to go at once to Bradley’s house, Bodney left the office, still wondering, though, what had become of his resolve to make a confession to Howard. But he would fortify himself against trivial annoyances and then, morally stronger, he could confess. As he was crossing the street he thought of the fellow who had won sixty dollars. "No better player than I am," he mused. "He hung on, that’s all. Now, when I pay the preacher and the druggist I’ll have five dollars left. And with that five dollars I might win out. If I had held to my resolution not to stay in on so many four flushes I might have won out anyway. But the other fellows filled flushes and straights against me. Why couldn’t I against them? Simply because it wasn’t my day. But this may be my day. My day must come some time. As that fellow said, ’they can’t beat a man all the time.’ Why not go to the club first? Then, if I win, I can easily meet my obligations."