The Italian laughed again. "You understand the language well,"
debatingly.

"And the people, too." Hillard had no desire to pass the time of day
with his opponent.

"Well, I have said that we shall meet again, and it must be so."

"And your hat, as well as mine, is still in the Casino. The night is
cold."

The Italian tugged impatiently at his mustache and permitted his glance
to wander over Hillard critically. No, a struggle, much as he longed for
it, would not be wise. He swung round on his heel and walked rapidly
down the street, much to Hillard's relief. Presently the Italian took
the corner, and Hillard turned to reassure Kitty.

But Kitty had vanished!

CHAPTER XV

MANY NAPOLEONS

Having yawned luxuriously, Merrihew sighed with perfect content. The
pretty woman sitting opposite smiled at him tenderly, and he smiled
back, abstractedly, as a man sometimes will when his mind tries to
gather in comprehensively a thought and a picture which are totally
different. Before him, in neat little lustrous stacks, stood seven
thousand francs in gold, three hundred and fifty effigies of Napoleon
the Little. And this was the thought which divided the smile with the
picture. Seven thousand francs, fourteen hundred dollars, more than half
the sum of his letter of credit! And all this prodigious fortune for a
little gold put here, and a little gold put there, wisely,
scientifically; for he would have strenuously denied that it was due to
bald, blind luck. If only the boys at the club could see him now! He wet
his lips suggestively, but the lust for gold was stronger than the call
of tobacco. Tobacco could wait; fortune might not. Still, he took out a
cigar, bit off the end, and put it back in his pocket. And where the
deuce had Hillard gone? Twenty minutes to eleven, and no sign of him
since the play began.

He counted off ten coins and placed them on the second dozen. The ball
rolled into number twenty-three. He leaned back again with a second
sigh, and the pretty woman smiled a second smile, and the wooden rake
pushed the beautiful gold over to him. He was playing a system, one bet
in every three turns of the wheel, in stakes of forty and eighty
dollars. To be sure he lost now and then, but the next play he doubled
and retrieved. Oh, the American Comic Opera Company should be well taken
care of. He could play the good Samaritan after the manner of a prince,
if, indeed, princes ever elected to play that role