ture.

"I shall see or write you presently," said the Count. He had already
obtained the fleet address, and knew, in addition, that he could write
at any time through the Navy Department at Washington.

"Will he make good?" asked Danny Grin wistfully, as he peered after
the departing form.

"It's an even chance," Dave replied. "Either that young man will go
steadily up, or else he will go rapidly down. It is sometimes a
terrible thing to be born a gentleman--in the European sense. Few of
the Count's friends will appreciate him if he starts in upon a career
of effort. But, even though he goes down, he will struggle bravely at
the outset. Of that I feel certain."

"I wonder what has become of Gortchky?" remarked Ensign Dalzell.

That industrious spy, however, was no longer the pursued; he had
become the pursuer.

From a little distance Gortchky had espied Dave and the Count
chatting, and had witnessed the introduction to Dalzell. A man of Mr.
Green Hat's experience with the world did not need many glances to
assure himself that the Count had lost his last franc at the gambling
table.

Gortchky was not at Monte Carlo without abundant assistance. So, as
the Count, head down, and reflecting hard, strolled along one of the
paths, a man bumped into him violently.

"Ten thousand pardons, Monsieur!" cried the bumper, in a tone of great
embarrassment. "It was stupid of me. I--"

"Have no uneasiness, my friend," smiled the Count. "It was I who was
stupid. I should have looked where I was going."

Courteous bows were exchanged, and the two separated. But the man who
had bumped into the Count now carried inside his sleeve the Count's
empty wallet, which was adorned with the crest of Surigny.

This wallet was promptly delivered to another. Five minutes later, as
the Count strolled along, Emil Gortchky called out behind him:

"Monsieur! Pardon me, but I think you must have dropped your wallet."

"If I have, the loss is trifling indeed," smiled the Count, turning.

Gortchky held out the wallet, then struck a match. By the flame the
Count beheld his own crest.

"Yes, it is mine," replied the Count, "and I thank you for your
kindness."

"Will Monsieur do me the kindness, before I leave him, to make sure
that the contents of the wallet are intact?" urged Gortchky.

"It will take but an instant," laughed the Count of Surigny. "See! I
will show you that the contents are intact!"

As he spoke he opened the wallet. A pa