He nodded, and we stole across the lawn, through the wicket-gate and along the narrow, winding path, thickly strewn with dried leaves and fir-cones, down towards the shore. We were just in time to see the final effect. A rim of the sun had already crept into sight, casting brilliant, scintillating reflections upon the dancing waves, and the eastern sky was tinged from the arc of the heavens to the horizon with streaks of brilliantly-hued, fantastically-shaped cloudlets, strewn upon a background of the lightest transparent blue. Far off the sails of a few fishing-smacks glittered like gossamer wings upon a fairy ocean; and farther away still, where the banks of orange and azure clouds seemed to sink into a blazing sea of polished glass, the white funnel of a passing steamer shone like a pillar of fire. It was a sight so new to Cecil that he stood spellbound, with a look of wondering awe upon his pale face. And it was not until we had gazed to the full and were retracing our steps in silence through the plantation that I cared to speak of the events of the night. "Philip," he said solemnly, when I mentioned the subject, "there's no one to blame for this night's work but myself. To do Leonard and that fellow Fothergill justice, they both continually urged me to leave off playing, but I wouldn't. It seemed as though the luck must change at every deal and so I went on, and on, and on. What a fool I was!" "And the result?" I asked anxiously. "I owe Fothergill between six and seven hundred pounds and I haven't as many shillings." I stopped short and looked at him in horror. "Seven hundred pounds! Why, Cis, how on earth came you to play up to that figure and with a man you know so little of?" "Oh, the man's all right--at least, he's no sharper, if you mean that!" Cecil answered doggedly. "It was my own fault altogether. He's a better player than I am, and, of course, won." "But he ought not to have gone on," I protested. "I don't know much about such matters, but I feel sure that a gentleman wouldn't sit down and win seven hundred pounds from a boy of your age. You're not eighteen yet, you know, Cis." "I don't quite see what age has got to do with it," he answered gloomily. "As regards Fothergill, I don't feel particularly sweet on him just now, as you may imagine; but it wasn't his fault at all. I made him go on, and, you know, the winner is a great deal in the hands of the loser in a case of that sort. He kept on wanting to go and he went at last. I should have gone on playing till now, I think, if he hadn't." "When does he expect you to settle up?" I asked. "I've got to see him this afternoon. I say, you'll come down with me, old chap, won't you?" he pleaded. "I shall have to ask for a little time, of course." "Yes, I'll go with you," I promised. "How shall you try to raise the money?"