His docility, as I sat thinking of that odious and flamboyant type of she-harpy, began to irritate me. "But why should it end here?" I demanded. "Because I put twenty thousand dollars of other people's money into a phony game, and lost it." "Well, what of it?" "Do you suppose I could go home with that hanging over me?" "Supposing you can't. Is that any reason why you should lie down at this stage of the game?" "But I've lost," he averred. "Everything's gone!" "'All is not lost,'" I quoted, feeling very much like Francis the First after the Battle of Pavia, "'till honor's self is gone!'" "But even _that's_ gone," was his listless retort. He looked up, almost angrily, at my movement of impatience. "Well, what would _you_ do about it?" he challenged. "I'd get that money back or I'd get that gang behind the bars," was the answer I flung out at him. "I'd fight them to a finish." "But there's nothing to fight. There's nobody to get hold of. That Western Union man was only a capper, a come-on. Their poolroom's one of those dirigible kind that move on when the police appear. Then they'd claim I was as bad as they were, trying to trick an honest bookmaker out of his money. And besides, there's nothing left to show I ever handed them over anything." "Then I'd keep at it until I found something," I declared. "How about the woman?' "She'd be too clever to get caught. And I don't suppose she'd know me from a piece of cheese." "Do you suppose you could in any way get me in touch with her?" I asked. "But she's got police protection. I tried to have her arrested myself. The officer told me to be on my way, or he'd run me in." "Then you know where she lives?" I quickly inquired. He hesitated for a moment, as though my question had caught him unawares. Then he mentioned one of the smaller apartment-hotels of upper Broadway. "And what's her name?" Again he hesitated before answering. "Oh, she's got a dozen, I suppose. The only one I know is Brunelle, Vinnie Brunelle. That's the name she answered to up there. But look here--you're not going to try to see her, are you?" "That I can't tell until to-morrow." "I don't think there'll be any to-morrow, for me," he rejoined, as his earlier listless look returned to his face. He even peered up a little startled, as I rose to my feet. "That's nonsense," was my answer. "We're going to meet here to-morrow night to talk things over." "But why?" he protested. "Because it strikes me you've got a duty to perform, a very serious duty. And if I can be of any service to you it will be a very great pleasure to me. And in the meantime, I might add that I am paying for this little supper."