then smoked and chatted.

Ansell was half inclined to tell a tale and borrow a "fiver," but so
clever was he that he feared lest the young fellow might speak of it in
Trouville. Therefore he stood at the bar laughing merrily, as was his
wont, and keeping a watchful eye upon any man who entered. He could
fascinate other men by cheery good humour, his disregard for worry, his
amusing optimism, and his brightness of conversation.

His training as a crook had surely been in a good school, yet there were
times when, before his vision, arose the face of the true, honest girl
whom he had married, and whom he had so cruelly treated. Sometimes, just
as at that hour when he stood at the bar of the great gilded casino,
laughing gaily, he would reflect upon his married life, and wonder where
Jean was and how she fared.

The young Englishman, Baldwin by name, was spending the season at
Trouville with his mother, who rented a pretty villa in the vicinity,
and he, being on leave, was idling amid the mad gaiety of
Paris-by-the-Sea.

He was much taken by the manners and airy talk of the rich American,
whom he found much less vulgar than many he had met in London society.
He made no ostentatious show, though it was whispered throughout
Trouville that he was one of the wealthiest men in Wall Street. What
would young Baldwin have thought if he had seen those three precious
louis?

Until five o'clock Ansell chatted and smoked with him, all the time his
brain busy to invent some fresh scheme to obtain funds. Then,
punctually at five, he took leave of his friend, and entering a
_fiacre_, drove along to Deauville, that fashionable village of smart
villas, with its big, white casino and its quaintly built but extremely
select Hotel Normandie.

At the latter he descended and, entering, passed through the big lounge
where the elegant world and the more elegant half world were chattering
and taking their tea after the races. He knew the big hotel well, and
many men and women glanced up and remarked as he passed, for Silas P.
Hoggan had already established a reputation.

Finding nobody to speak to, he took a seat in a corner, drank tea
because it was the correct thing to do, smoked a cigarette, and became
horribly bored.

Those who saw him reflected upon the great burden which huge wealth as
his must be, little dreaming that, after all, he was but a blackmailer
and an ingenious swindler.

Presently he looked in at the casino, where he