seen him as he stood revealed, and came up in
search of Peggy. It was almost morning, she told her, and quite time to
go back to the hotel and sleep. So in Bragdon's charge they wandered
off, a bit reluctantly, a bit lingeringly.

It was not until Monty was summoned to rescue "Reggie" Vanderpool from
the stern arm of the law that he discovered the identity of
Punchinello. Manifestly he had not been in a condition to recognize his
assailant, and a subsequent disagreement had driven the first out of
his head. The poor boy was sadly bruised about the face and his arrest
had probably saved him from worse punishment.

"I told you I couldn't wear a mask," he explained ruefully as Monty led
him home. "But how could I know that he could hear me all the time?"

The day after the carnival Brewster drove his guests over to Monte
Carlo. He meant to stay only long enough to try his luck at the tables
and lose enough to make up for the days at sea when his purse was
necessarily idle. Swearengen Jones was forgotten, and soon after his
arrival he began to plunge. At first he lost heavily, and it was with
difficulty that he concealed his joy. Peggy Gray was watching him, and
in whispers implored him to stop, but Mrs. Dan excitedly urged him to
continue until the luck changed. To the girl's chagrin it was the more
reckless advice that he followed. In so desperate a situation he felt
that he could not stop. But his luck turned too soon.

"I can't afford to give up," he said, miserably, to himself, after a
time. "I'm already a winner by five thousand dollars, and I must at
least get rid of that."

Brewster became the center of interest to those who were not playing
and people marveled at his luck. They quite misunderstood his eagerness
and the flushed, anxious look with which he followed each spin of the
wheel. He had chosen a seat beside an English duchess whose practice it
was to appropriate the winnings of the more inexperienced players, and
he was aware that many of his gold pieces were being deliberately
stolen. Here he thought was at least a helping hand, and he was on the
point of moving his stack toward her side when DeMille interfered. He
had watched the duchess, and had called the croupier's attention to her
neat little method. But that austere individual silenced him by saying
in surprise, "Mais c'est madame la duchesse, que voulez-vous?"

Not to be downed so easily, DeMille watched the play from behind
Monty's chair and