commend itself. He resolved to get some lunch
before proceeding with his business--or fatuity--of discovering the
elusive lady, and drove off to a neighbouring tavern, which did not
happen to be, as he hoped it might, the one chosen by those who had
preceded him.

Meanwhile Dare, previously master of their plans, went straight to the
house which sheltered them, and on entering under the archway from the
Lange-Strasse was saved the trouble of inquiring for Captain De Stancy
by seeing him drinking bitters at a little table in the court. Had
Somerset chosen this inn for his quarters instead of the one in the
Market-Place which he actually did choose, the three must inevitably
have met here at this moment, with some possibly striking dramatic
results; though what they would have been remains for ever hidden in the
darkness of the unfulfilled.

De Stancy jumped up from his chair, and went forward to the new-comer.
'You are not long behind us, then,' he said, with laconic disquietude.
'I thought you were going straight home?'

'I was,' said Dare, 'but I have been blessed with what I may call a
small competency since I saw you last. Of the two hundred francs you
gave me I risked fifty at the tables, and I have multiplied them, how
many times do you think? More than four hundred times.'

De Stancy immediately looked grave. 'I wish you had lost them,' he said,
with as much feeling as could be shown in a place where strangers were
hovering near.

'Nonsense, captain! I have proceeded purely on a calculation of chances;
and my calculations proved as true as I expected, notwithstanding a
little in-and-out luck at first. Witness this as the result.' He smacked
his bag with his umbrella, and the chink of money resounded from within.
'Just feel the weight of it!'

'It is not necessary. I take your word.'

'Shall I lend you five pounds?'

'God forbid! As if that would repay me for what you have cost me! But
come, let's get out of this place to where we can talk more freely.' He
put his hand through the young man's arm, and led him round the corner
of the hotel towards the Schloss-Platz.

'These runs of luck will be your ruin, as I have told you before,'
continued Captain De Stancy. 'You will be for repeating and repeating
your experiments, and will end by blowing your brains out, as wiser
heads than yours have done. I am glad you have come away, at any rate.
Why did you travel this way?'

'Simply because I could afford it,