check-book, and write a check for this
sum of money;--nothing would be so easy; and if I could succeed in
explaining it to your father during his lifetime, he, no doubt, would
repay me. And, for the sake of auld lang syne, I should not be unhappy
about my money, whether he did so or not. But would it be wise? On your
own account would it be wise?"

"I cannot say that anything done for me would be wise,--unless you could
cut my throat."

"And yet there is no one whose future life might be easier. Your father,
the circumstances of whose life are the most singular I ever knew--"

"I shall never believe all this about my mother."

"Never mind that now. We will pass that by for the present. He has
disinherited you."

"That will be a question some day for the lawyers--should I live."

"But circumstances have so gone with him that he is enabled to leave you
another fortune. He is very angry with your brother, in which anger I
sympathize. He will strip Tretton as bare as the palm of my hand for
your sake. You have always been his favorite, and so, in spite of all
things, you are still. They tell me he cannot last for six months
longer."

"Heaven knows I do not wish him to die."

"But he thinks that your brother does. He feels that Augustus begrudges
him a few months' longer life, and he is angry. If he could again make
you his heir, now that the debts are all paid, he would do so." Here the
captain shook his head. "But as it is, he will leave you enough for all
the needs of even a luxurious life. Here is his will, which I am going
to send down to him for final execution this very day. My senior clerk
will take it, and you will meet him there. That will give you ample for
life. But what is the use of it all, if you can lose it in one night or
in one month among a pack of scoundrels?"

"If they be scoundrels, I am one of them."

"You lose your money. You are their dupe. To the best of my belief you
have never won. The dupes lose, and the scoundrels win. It must be so."

"You know nothing about it, Mr. Grey."

"This man who had your money last;--does he not live on it as a
profession? Why should he win always, and you lose?"

"It is my luck."

"Luck! There is no such thing as luck. Toss up, right hand against left
for an hour together, and the result will be the same. If not for an
hour, then do it for six hours. Take the average, and your cards will be
the same as another man's."

"Another man has his skill,"