eat reluctance he gave way,
and to please us he said that he would forgive Ward for having done
rather a mean thing, and he pardoned me for having been so rude. Of
course we were most properly taken in, but that was the fate of most
men who had much to do with Dennison, and I was so glad to be at peace
once more that it did not occur to me then that Ward and I were two
colossal idiots.

I went round to see Foster after the match, but found that he was going
to dine early with the Richmond team, so he did not tell me anything
except that he had got a splitting headache. Each time I had been to
see him for the last fortnight he had either been out, just going out,
or had a room full of men with him. Whenever he had come to see me the
same kind of things had happened, so we had not managed to have one
respectable talk together. I determined that this was most
unsatisfactory, so after dinner I wrote him a note, asking him to go
for a walk with me on the following day, and then I went to see Jack
Ward. My opinion of him had been changing all day, and as I went to
his room I felt that whatever Foster and Murray said about him, he was
at bottom a splendid sort. Roulette was going on in his rooms, and the
usual crowd were playing. Ward was banker, and he did not even ask me
to play, but roulette is a very difficult game to watch without
playing, and after black had come up six times consecutively, I thought
it must be red's turn. It was not, however, and five times I lost my
money; then I had sense enough to stop for a bit until the numbers
began to fascinate me, and I picked nineteen, being my age. A lot of
people may say I was old enough to know better, but it is so easy to
make remarks of that kind, and until they find something a little less
stale, they will never do any good. I stood by the table at first, and
then sat down and made up my mind to get my money back. I tried
everything in turn, but luck was dead against me, and Ward once or
twice said he wished I would win something. In the end I lost nearly
six pounds, and went back to my rooms a sorrowful man. Before I went
into my bedder I looked at my cheque-book, and it gave me no
satisfaction. I had borrowed four pounds from Ward, and I wrote him a
cheque for the amount, and laying it on the table beside me, I sat
thinking. My door was wide open, and I must have been nearly asleep,
for I did not see any one come into my room, and a hand falling on my
sh