rable--sitting out of doors in
this sharp wind, with clouds of dust blowing."

"Home!" Eve repeated. "We haven't any home. We've had to leave the
villa. We couldn't pay the rent. The beast of a landlord ordered us out.
Nobody trusts anybody else at Monte Carlo. The tradespeople are after us
like wolves. They've taken everything we had worth taking, except the
clothes on our backs. Now do you wonder I want him to get what he can
out of the Casino? We must be off somewhere, to-night, before these
brutes of tradesmen know we're away from the villa for good. They've
probably nosed out something by this time."

"Come along, Miss Grant, if you're really willing to see me through
this," Dauntrey said, clinging to those bare rocks of conventionality
which still rose above the waters of despair.

"Unless," Eve broke in quickly, "you'd rather lend us enough to get us
out of the whole scrape? Some day----"

"Oh, cut that, Eve," her husband interposed. "I wouldn't take any more
of Miss Grant's money even if she'd give it, for it would be giving, not
lending."

"That depends on you. If you're so mean-spirited that you can't earn our
living, I suppose we'll have to beg the rest of our lives, unless I go
on the stage or something," said Eve. "You always do your best to crush
every idea of mine."

"Just now I can't lay my hands on any money," Mary explained gently,
anxious to keep the peace. "I was on my way----" She was about to
mention the jewellery she wished to sell, but Eve, too impatient to hear
the excuses she expected, cut her short.

"Oh, well, the next best thing is to help Dauntrey squeeze as much as he
can out of the Casino. Use your influence. I know he won't speak up for
himself. He's an English peer, when all's said and done! It would make
a big scandal if he committed suicide because he'd lost everything in
their beastly place. The papers all over the world would be full of it.
The Casino wouldn't like that much. You can point it out."

Mary shivered and felt sick. She heard Lord Dauntrey mutter something
under his breath, and saw him turn away. It was indescribably repulsive
that his wife should speak in his presence of his possible suicide. The
girl felt a sudden horror of Lady Dauntrey, yet she did not cease to
pity her; and she was infinitely sorry for the cowed and wretched man
whom she had always liked.

They started together for the Casino, Mary not yet understanding
precisely what was to be done, but