tration, from the police officer
up, to a higher and more intelligent plane of operation. Alas for such
ambitions of youth, they seldom prove more than dreams.

My dinner that evening was at length finished; absorbed in my thoughts,
I had dallied over the meal and not eaten very heartily; but, if I
remember aright, I enjoyed it rather more than usual, though I was
without company, and had left my magazine unread. After all there is no
companion like one's self when taken in the right hour and mood, and the
secret of happiness, learned as we grow old, is to choose our time and
to control and direct our moods.

As I arose from the table, Brown pulled back my chair saying:

"I hope dinner pleased you, sir?"

I nodded an indifferent assent, but I would have been more appreciative,
I think, if I had known how long it was to be before I should again dine
with a mind so free from care.

CHAPTER II

A GAME OF CARDS

It was ten o'clock when I had finished my cigar and coffee in the
library--where I had gone after dining--and I left the club and started
for White's. It was a rainy, sloppy night, such as New York often
provides in winter, and I hurried over the few blocks that separated me
from my destination.

As I approached the house, I saw the light shining beneath the
shade--which was not quite down--at the front window, and it held out
promise of cheerful warmth within.

As I have said, White's rooms were on Nineteenth Street; they were on
the ground floor of a house about midway of the block between Fifth and
Sixth Avenues and on the north side of the street.

He had the entire first floor, which consisted of two rooms connected by
a short passageway. The front room was the sitting-room, and the back
his bedroom. With the latter I was not familiar at that time, but the
sitting-room was a thoroughly delightful apartment. The floor was
carpeted with Eastern rugs, and the walls, papered a Pompeiian red, were
hung with old prints and weapons. To the right of the door, as you
entered, was a well selected library; to the left a piano.

The rear of the room was largely taken up by two doors--one leading to
the bedroom through a short passageway, and the other to the bathroom,
which again opened into the bedroom. Between these doors stood a
handsome desk with the usual paraphernalia.

Opposite the entrance was a large fireplace adorned with brass andirons
and fender, and over the mantel a mirror. To the left