best, they get. And they're playing Lord
Dauntrey's system with him at the Casino."

"And losing!"

"Yes. But Dom Ferdinand seems to have plenty of money."

"Secundina says the _chef_ told her it was well known that Monseigneur
hasn't a sou of his own, but borrows of people who believe in his Cause.
Then he comes here and gambles with what he gets. According to the cook,
he's a well-known figure at Monte Carlo, and sometimes calls out when
he's playing in the Rooms, 'There's my cousin's head on that gold piece.
It ought to be mine.'"

"His is a mighty good-looking head, anyhow," remarked Miss Collis
thoughtfully. She herself was not rich, but her stepfather, a Chicago
merchant, was enormously wealthy, and she was wondering whether, to give
her a chance of possible queenhood, David Collis might not open his
heart and his purse.

Dodo was at the same time asking herself what would be the smallest sum
Dom Ferdinand would consider worth looking at with a wife. Also she
contemplated the idea of impressing him with the belief that she was a
great heiress, until too late for him to change his mind in honour. But
first he must fix his mind upon her. She would have been glad to create
distrust of him in the hearts of Lottie Collis and her mother; and while
they remained at the Bella Vista in Dom Ferdinand's society Dodo decided
not to be frightened away by a few inconveniences. Nor did she wish the
story of that long-ago murder to reach his ears. Dom Ferdinand had
publicly announced that he was horribly superstitious, and perhaps he
would not stay if he knew what had happened in the dining-room. He would
think it brought bad luck to live in such a house, even if he could bear
the idea of a ghost; for he talked of little else than what one ought to
do in order to attract luck.

After a few days at Monte Carlo Lord Dauntrey began to find
acquaintances, people he had known long ago in England before he was
swallowed up in darkest Africa, or those he had met at hotels since his
marriage--hotels chosen by Lady Dauntrey for the purpose of making
useful friends. He had a certain wistful, weary charm of manner that was
somehow likable and aroused sympathy, especially in women, though it was
evident that he made no conscious effort to please.

There was a vague, floating rumour of some old, more than half-forgotten
scandal about him: an accident, giving the wrong drug when he was
studying medicine as a very young man; a death; a