eyes to Kimberlin's face after the young man had made
an astonishingly lucky throw, and keep them fixed there with a
steadiness that made the young man quail.

The stranger produced another roll of bills when the second was gone,
and this had a value many times as great as the others together. The
stakes were raised to a thousand dollars a game, and still Kimberlin
won. At last the time came when the stranger braced himself for a final
effort. With speech somewhat thick, but very deliberate and quiet, he
said,--

"You have won seventy-four thousand dollars, which is exactly the
amount I have remaining. We have been playing for several hours. I am
tired, and I suppose you are. Let us finish the game. Each will now
stake his all and throw a final game for it."

Without hesitation, Kimberlin agreed. The bills made a considerable
pile on the table. Kimberlin threw, and the box held but one
combination that could possibly beat him; this combination might be
thrown once in ten thousand times. The starving man's heart beat
violently as the stranger picked up the box with exasperating
deliberation. It was a long time before he threw. He made his
combinations and ended by defeating his opponent. He sat looking at the
dice a long time, and then he slowly leaned back in his chair, settled
himself comfortably, raised his eyes to Kimberlin's, and fixed that
unearthly stare upon him. He said not a word; his face contained not a
trace of emotion or intelligence. He simply looked. One cannot keep
one's eyes open very long without winking, but the stranger did. He sat
so motionless that Kimberlin began to be tortured.

"I will go now," he said to the stranger--said that when he had not a
cent and was starving.

The stranger made no reply, but did not relax his gaze; and under that
gaze the young man shrank back in his own chair, terrified. He became
aware that two men were cautiously talking in an adjoining booth. As
there was now a deathly silence in his own, he listened, and this is
what he heard:

"Yes; he was seen to turn into this street about three hours ago."

"And he had shaved?"

"He must have done so; and to remove a full beard would naturally make
a great change in a man."

"But it may not have been he."

"True enough; but his extreme pallor attracted attention. You know that
he has been troubled with heart-disease lately, and it has affected him
seriously."

"Yes, but his old skill remains. Why, this is the m