in surprise. "It must have been a great deal, wasn't it?"

"Oh, two thousand dollars, perhaps. That isn't so high here, though.
People do plunge for as much as eight or ten thousand. It all depends."
McKibben was in a belittling, depreciating mood.

"Oh yes, but not often, surely."

"For the love of heavens, Polk!" exclaimed Rhees Grier, coming up and
plucking at his sleeve; "if you want to give your money away give it to
me. I can gather it in just as well as that croupier, and I'll go get
a truck and haul it home, where it will do some good. It's perfectly
terrible the way you are carrying on."

Lynde took his loss with equanimity. "Now to double it," he observed,
"and get all our losses back, or go downstairs and have a rarebit and
some champagne. What form of a present would please you best?--but
never mind. I know a souvenir for this occasion."

He smiled and bought more gold. Aileen stacked it up showily, if a
little repentantly. She did not quite approve of this--his
plunging--and yet she did; she could not help sympathizing with the
plunging spirit. In a few moments it was on the board--the same
combination, the same stacks, only doubled--four thousand all told.
The croupier called, the ball rolled and fell. Barring three hundred
dollars returned, the bank took it all.

"Well, now for a rarebit," exclaimed Lynde, easily, turning to Lord,
who stood behind him smiling. "You haven't a match, have you? We've
had a run of bad luck, that's sure."

Lynde was secretly the least bit disgruntled, for if he had won he had
intended to take a portion of the winnings and put it in a necklace or
some other gewgaw for Aileen. Now he must pay for it. Yet there was
some satisfaction in having made an impression as a calm and
indifferent, though heavy loser. He gave Aileen his arm.

"Well, my lady," he observed, "we didn't win; but we had a little fun
out of it, I hope? That combination, if it had come out, would have set
us up handsomely. Better luck next time, eh?"

He smiled genially.

"Yes, but I was to have been your luck, and I wasn't," replied Aileen.

"You are all the luck I want, if you're willing to be. Come to the
Richelieu to-morrow with me for lunch--will you?"

"Let me see," replied Aileen, who, observing his ready and somewhat
iron fervor, was doubtful. "I can't do that," she said, finally, "I
have another engagement."

"How about Tuesday, then?"

Aileen, realizing of a sudden that