am free again. I was becoming the kind of man that every
one should despise, a whining sentimentalist. I had actually begun to
talk about the moral aspect of things. What of that? It's never too late
to mend, eh, Winfield? Off with the trappings, have done with shams,
Richard's himself again! Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow
we die."

His face was still pale, but his eyes shone with a mad light.

"But we can't go down like this, Leicester, we may as well----"

"All right, have your own way. I'll join you in five minutes. 'The
apparel oft proclaims the man,' therefore let us be respectable.
Respectable, oh, I'll let some of 'em know what respectability means."

Winfield left the room deep in thought. He was a man of the world, but
he was sorry to see how Leicester was taking his blow. He would rather
have seen him give way to grief, or make threats of vengeance.

A few minutes later they met in the dining-room. Both were in faultless
attire, although Winfield noticed that his friend's mood had not
changed.

"The club dinner," said Leicester to the waiter, "and let us have it at
once."

"Yes, sir. What'll you take to drink, sir?"

"Drink! Oh, whisky and soda. Bring a large bottle of each."

The waiter went away. He had heard that Leicester was to have been
married that day, and he naturally wondered what he was doing there; but
of course he showed no surprise.

"By the way, Leicester," said Winfield, as he toyed with a piece of
bread on the table, "I've been thinking that things may not be so bad as
we thought."

"Oh, chuck it, Winfield. I've learnt my lesson. I've been a fool, but
I'll not close my eyes to facts any longer."

"She may love you still," persisted the other.

"Woman's love! I was right in the old days. It's all a matter of price;
only I made a mistake about the price. I didn't reckon upon a woman's
vanity--that's all."

"Well, let us meet facts fairly. It was natural that she should be mad.
When a high-minded girl like Miss Castlemaine----"

"High-minded! Don't talk such drivel."

"Yes, I repeat, high-minded. When she is told that the engagement was a
matter of a wager, and when, after the wedding-day was fixed, you
admitted that it was still a matter of winning the wager, then----"

"What are you driving at? I say, I'll kick up a row about the management
of this club. That whisky has been ordered at least three minutes, and
it's not brought yet."

"I'm driving at this.