I am feeling
very badly about that!"

"I've just been told that mine is going to die," Hunterleys continued.

The young man laughed incredulously.

"Why, I went over the prison this morning," he declared. "I never saw
such a healthy lot of ruffians in my life. That chap whom you
tackled--the one with the revolver--was smoking cigarettes and using
language--well, I couldn't understand it all, but what I did understand
was enough to melt the bars of his prison."

"That's odd," Hunterleys remarked drily. "According to the police
commissioner who has just left me, the man is on his death-bed, and my
only chance of escaping serious trouble is to get out of Monte Carlo
to-night."

"Are you going?"

Hunterleys shook his head.

"It would take a great deal more than that to move me just now," he
said, "even if I had not suspected from the first that the man was
lying."

Richard glanced at his companion a little curiously.

"I shouldn't have said that you were having such a good time, Sir
Henry," he observed; "in fact I should have thought you would have been
rather glad of an opportunity to slip away."

Hunterleys looked around them. They had reached the top of the staircase
and were in sight of the dense crowd in the rooms.

"Come and have a drink," he suggested. "A great many of these people
will have cleared off presently."

"I'll have a drink, with pleasure," Richard answered, "but I still can't
see why you're stuck on this place."

They strolled into the bar and found two vacant places.

"My dear young friend," Hunterleys said, as he ordered their drinks, "if
you were an Englishman instead of an American, I think that I would give
you a hint as to the reason why I do not wish to leave Monte Carlo just
at present."

"Can't see what difference that makes," Richard declared. "You know I'm
all for the old country."

"I wonder whether you are," Hunterleys remarked thoughtfully. "I tell
you frankly that if I thought you meant it, I should probably come to
you before long for a little help."

"If ever you do, I'm your man," Richard assured him heartily. "Any more
scraps going?"

Hunterleys sipped his whisky and soda thoughtfully. There had been an
exodus from the room to watch some heavy gambling at _Trente et
Quarante_, and for a moment they were almost alone.

"Lane," he said, "I am going to take you a little into my confidence. In
a way I suppose it is foolish, but to tell you the truth, I am almost
d