Jim watched breathlessly, with a tightening of the chest, though the outcome was nothing to him, and wondered how long it could go on. The man must be made of money. He knew too little of the game to follow it with understanding, but he watched the calm white face with intensest interest, and out of the corners of his eyes saw the slim white hand quietly dropping small fortunes up and down the table and replacing them with larger ones as they disappeared. Then a murmur from the onlookers told him of some change in the tun of luck, but the white face showed no sign. And suddenly the group round the table began to disintegrate. "What is it?" jerked Jim to his neighbour. "He's broken the bank. Wish I had half his nerve and luck and about a quarter of his money." "Who is he?" "Don't you know? Lord Deseret. Gad, he must have taken ten thousand pounds to-night!" "Come along, Carron," said one of his friends. "All the fun's over, but it was jolly well worth seeing." And as Jim turned he found himself face to face with Lord Deseret, who stood quietly tapping one hand with a bundle of bank-notes, folded lengthwise as though they were so many pipe-spills. "Carron?" he said gently. "Which of you is Carron?" "I am Jim Carron, sir--at your service." And the keen kindly eyes dwelt pleasantly on him and seemed to go right through him. "_Jim_ Carron?" said the old man, and tapped him on the arm with the wedge of bank-notes, and indicated an adjacent sofa and his desire for his company there. "And why not Denzil? It always has been Denzil, hasn't it?" "Well, you see, there are two of us, sir, and we are both Denzil, so we are also Jack and Jim to prevent mistakes." "Two of you, are there?"--with a slight knitting of the smooth white brow, on which all the wildest fluctuations of the tables had not produced the faintest ripple of emotion. "Two of you, eh? And which of you is Lady Susan Sandys's boy? Which is to be Carron of Carne when the time comes?" "Ah, now! that is more that I can tell you, sir. We are a pair of unfortunate twins, and no one knows which is the elder." "Twins, eh?" And even to Jim's unpractised eye there was a look of surprise on the calm white face. "That is somewhat awkward for the succession, isn't it? Which is the better man?" "Oh--Jack, miles away. He's got a head on him. He's at Chatham in the Engineers. I'm in the Hussars." "There may be work even for the Hussars before long. There certainly will be for the Engineers. You're all looking forward to it, I suppose?" "Very much so, sir. You think there's no doubt about it?" "None, I fear, my boy. It will bring loss to many, gain to a few, but the gain rarely equals the loss. Do you play?" he asked abruptly. "Very little. It's all quite new to me. I've hardly found my feet yet." "This kind of thing," he said, flipping the bank-notes, "is all very well if you can afford it. Take my advice and keep clear of it."