on a holiday, he had got into the company of gamblers, and, after winning a large sum (ten thousand francs, he declared), had lost not only that, but all else. that he possessed, including his jewellery.  He had gambled deliberately; he wanted money, money, and saw no other way of obtaining it.  In the expansive mood of convalescence, Cecil Morphew left no detail of his story unrevealed.  He was of gentle birth, and had a private income of three hundred pounds, charged upon the estate of a distant relative; his profession (the bar) could not be remunerative for years, and other prospects he had none.  The misery of his situation lay in the fact that he was desperately in love with the daughter of people who looked upon him as little better than a pauper.  The girl had pledged herself to him, but would not marry without her parents’ consent, of which there was no hope till he had at least trebled his means.  His choice of a profession was absurd, dictated merely by social opinion; he should have been working hard in a commercial office, or at some open-air pursuit.  Naturally he turned again to the thought of gambling, this time the great legalised game of hazard, wherein he was as little likely to prosper as among the blacklegs of Brussels.  Rolfe liked him for his ingenuousness, and for the vein of poetry in his nature.  The love affair still went on, but Morphew seldom alluded to it, and his seasoned friend thought of it as a youthful ailment which would pass and be forgotten.

‘I’m convinced,’ said the young man presently, ’that any one who really gives his mind to it can speculate with moderate success.  Look at the big men —­ the brokers and the company promoters, and so on; I’ve met some of them, and there’s nothing in them —­ nothing!  Now, there’s Bennet Frothingham.  You know him, I think?’

Rolfe nodded.

’Well, what do you think of him?  Isn’t he a very ordinary fellow?  How has he got such a position?  I’m told he began just in a small way —­ by chance.  No doubt he found it so easy to make money he was surprised at his success.  Tripcony has told me a lot about him.  Why, the “Britannia” brings him fifteen thousand a year; and he must be in a score of other things.’

‘I know nothing about the figures,’ said Rolfe, ’and I shouldn’t put much faith in Tripcony; but Frothingham, you may be sure, isn’t quite an ordinary man.’

‘Ah, well, of course there’s a certain knack —­ and then, experience —­’

Morphew emptied his glass, and refilled it.  Nearly all the tables in the room were now occupied, and the general hum of talk gave security to intimate dialogue.  Flushed and bright-eyed, the young man presently leaned forward.

‘If I could count upon five hundred, she would take the step.’

‘Indeed?’

’Yes, that’s settled.  What do you think?  Plenty of people live very well on less.’

‘You want my serious opinion?’

‘If you can be serious.’