rtiality for betting on the turf and speculation
on 'Change--both, of course, sub rosa.

"Oh, yes," he said, as they started again. "Jasper has put two thousand
more of mine on to-day. There he is," he broke off, as the sleek,
carefully dressed figure of Mr. Vermont entered the ball-room.

"Talk of angels," murmured Lady Merivale, but with a glance implying
that she meant a being very far removed from that celestial grade.

Jasper Vermont did not excel at dancing; yet, strange to say, he was
invariably invited to every big function of the season. Indeed, the
hostesses of Mayfair would almost as soon have omitted the name of
Adrien Leroy himself as that of his friend.

It was difficult to explain this other than on account of his engaging
amiability. Probably Vermont would have transformed the famous advice of
Uriah Heep to "Always be obliging." Certainly, no pleasanter company
could be found, whether for man or woman; whatever the hour, however
mixed the company, Jasper Vermont had always a smile, a jest, or a new
and piquant scandal. In the smoking-room he would rival Mortimer Shelton
in apparently good-natured cynicism. In a duchess's boudoir he would
enliven the afternoon tea hour with the neatest of epigrams and the
spiciest slander of her Grace's dearest friend. Nothing came amiss to
him; as Adrien Leroy had once said, he was "a walking encyclopaedia."

Yet with all Mr. Vermont's charm of manner, he could resent, smiling
still, an impertinence or a snub, and deal back a tongue thrust that
would effectually put his opponent hors de combat. Truly of him might be
quoted, "I smile, and murder while I smile."

To-night he was apparently enjoying the gay scene before him. His sharp
black eyes were like little snakes, darting here, there, and everywhere,
while he wagged his smooth head to the time of the music, as if in keen
enjoyment.

Mortimer Shelton noticed him; "gloating over his future victims," he
commented, almost audibly, as he and his partner passed close to where
he was standing. Vermont, however, apparently did not hear him, but
continued to smile, amiably as the dancers whirled by.

It was nearly daybreak when the carriages drew up outside the great
house to take the guests to their respective homes; and, having
successfully steered a young marchioness into her electric brougham,
Leroy found himself standing close to Vermont, not far from where his
own motor awaited him.

"They call this pleasure, J