Some change seats, others quit the game, new
ones buy chips, and again the "soda" card appears and another deal is
on. The suppressed excitement is again apparent in feature and action;
the flushed face of the winner and the cold sweat on the brow of the
loser make no impression on the calm, self-satisfied face of dealer or
lookout, each of whom wears a light slouch hat, the brim shading the
eyes. Both are dressed neatly and in good taste, except for the enormous
diamonds they show in shirt bosoms and on the little finger. There is no
tragedy here. The sequel of the life in a city gambling den is the wife
at home without food, or suffering from dyspepsia because of its
plenteousness, or perhaps in the counting-room of some Board of Trade
office, directors' room of a bank, or a police station, to which the
embezzler is taken after the confession. The mining camp and frontier
gambling dens differ in respect to lawlessness, but the atmosphere after
all is about the same.

"I am ready to go, Mr. Dunbar," said Chiquita.

"While we are at it, suppose we take in one of the theater restaurants
and then at midnight see the worst sink hole of iniquity on the American
continent," replied Mr. Dunbar, a look of "do or die'" changing his
usually kind face to that of uncompromising severity.

"I trust, Mr. Dunbar, I have not offended by asking a sacrifice of your
self-respect, and--"

"No, no, do not mention it," interrupted he, quickly. "I am glad of this
opportunity. To be sure it has taken a great deal of resolution on my
part, not only to satisfy my consciousness of the propriety in the first
place, but to feel that it is consistent with a Christian life to allow
one's self on any pretext to come in contact with evil just to gratify
curiosity. I am not in sympathy with the so-called slumming parties,
either for the good such investigations may bring about, or for the
benefit that such visitations might result in to the inmates. There are
other methods by which the same end may be accomplished and not appear
so drastic. I have sometimes wondered if there are really any grounds
for the flings made at Chicago, and if there be any truth in the oft
heard remark, 'Chicago's down town resorts have no counterpart in any
other city in the world.' Of course I expect we will see a mild form of
dissipation and possibly one or two who may have taken a drop too much,
but as those stories go from one to another they are exaggerated until
one