‘An interesting point,’ said the chairman. ‘Can a man be said to win who has never competed? I shall decide in Dr Alden’s favour. Leonard says nothing of intention. He only demands certain facts. And these facts the doctor by an amazing stroke of luck has been able to provide. The prize of one hundred and ten pounds will be divided equally between him and Major Byles, unless there is any further claim.’ No further claim was forthcoming. The chairman then announced that Mr Matthews would preside at the next meeting, and read out the problem set for the following month, called ‘The Win-and-Lose Problem,’ and there was a general feeling that it would take some doing. No. IV. The Win-and-Lose Problem At the forty-sixth meeting of the Problem Club, the waiters having left the room, Mr Matthews, smiling and rubicund, took his place as chairman. He finished his glass of an old and veritable cognac, lit with care and a cedar-wood spill a cigar that can only be obtained by the favour of the planter, and read out the terms of the Win-and-Lose Problem. ‘It is required to win an even bet of one pound, resulting in a net loss of one pound to the winner; and to lose an even bet of one pound resulting in a net gain of one pound to the loser. No competitor is to make more than two bets.’ ‘Well, gentlemen,’ said Mr Matthews, ‘I’m supposed to make one or two preliminary observations. Now here’s a thing that strikes me. You may remember that when we tackled the Kiss Problem, our reverend friend Mr Cunliffe said that it revealed the artful Leonard as an apostle of morality. Of course, the padre took the jack-pot on that occasion, and so he may have been prejudiced, but it looks to me now as if he may have been right. See for yourselves. You’ve got to win a bet and lose money by it, and then you’ve got to lose a bet and make money by it, and at the end of it you’re left just where you were when you started. There’s not much deadly fascination and excitement about that—why, it’s enough to make you lose your taste for gambling. ‘Yes, and there’s one more point. I noticed a good deal of preoccupation at dinner to-night. Very few of you seemed to be putting your heart into the work, and I believe I was the only man who had the _vol-au-vent_ brought back to him for further reference. Great mistake that of yours. Some of you tried to work out sums on the back of your menus. I detected Major Byles, with corrugated brows, in the act of making pencil calculations on the tablecloth. Yes, there’s not a doubt that Leonard has given you a worrying time, and some of you were wrestling with it right up to the last moment. It won’t surprise me if there’s not a winner among the whole lot of you. However, we’ll begin with a likely chance. You, Sir Charles, have got a reputation as a learned man; can I ask the secretary to draw a cheque in your favour?’