'And yours, too, Mr. Probus.' 'My dear,' said Alice, 'do not exchange words any longer. You have said No already. It is my husband's last word, Sir.' There I should have stopped. It is always foolish to reveal to an enemy what one has discovered. I think that up to that moment Mr. Probus was only anxious: that is to say, he was crazy with anxiety, but he could not believe that his money was all gone, because he had no knowledge or suspicion in what way it had gone. Things that appear impossible cannot be believed. I think that he would have assured himself of the fact in some other way before proceeding to the wickedness which he actually had in his mind. He would have waited: and I could have eluded him some way or other. As it was, the mere statement of Matthew drunk drove him half mad with fear: but there was still the chance that Matthew sober would have spoken differently. 'No,' according to Alice, was my last word. 'Not quite the last word,' I said. 'Hark ye, Mr. Probus. The sum waiting for me when Matthew dies, is one hundred thousand pounds with accumulations of interest, is it not? If he were to die to-morrow--to be sure it is not likely--but he may be murdered, or he may put himself within the power of the Law and so be executed----' Mr. Probus turned ghastly white and shook all over. 'Then I should come in for the whole of that money, which is much better than four thousand pounds, whereas if I were to die to-morrow--either by the operation of the law or by some other manner, Matthew would have the whole and you would get back the twenty-five thousand pounds you have lent my cousin with a noble addition. If you do get it, that is--Mr. Probus, I think that you will not get it. I think you will never get any more of your money back at all.' 'I don't know, Sir, what you mean: or what you know,' he stammered. 'I know more than you think. I know where your money has gone.' 'He jumped up. 'Where? Where? Where? Tell me.' 'It has gone into the bottomless gulf that they call the gaming table, Mr. Probus. It has been gambled away: the ships of my father's fleet: the cargoes: the accumulated treasures: the credit of the business: the private fortune of my cousin: your own money lent to Matthew: it has all gone: irrecoverably gone----' 'The gaming table!' he groaned. 'The gaming table! I never thought of that. Sir, do you know what you mean--the gaming table?' No one but a money-lender knows all that may be meant by the gaming table. 'I know what I say. Matthew told you the truth. Everything has gone: ruin stares him in the face----Your money is gone with the rest.' 'The gaming table. And I never suspected it.... The gaming table!' He fell into a kind of trance or fit, with open mouth, white cheeks, and fixed eyes. This lasted only for a few moments. 'Mr. Probus,' I went on, 'I cannot say that I am sorry for your misfortunes; but I hope we shall never meet again.'