you stake for me?" she said in a quick undertone. "You were lucky
the other night."

He stepped forward, smiling with a cold touch of wisdom, and took the
coin she handed to him.

"What! A convert!" cried Luard, who was again officiating at the game.
"Luck to you, Mrs. Milbanke!"

He gave a pleasant laugh, as her coin touched the table, and a moment
later set the ball spinning.

Clodagh waited, holding her breath. The ball slackened speed--hesitated
over the gaily painted board--and finally dropped into its place. There
was a general laugh of excitement; the little crowd pressed closer to
the table, and she saw her coin swept into Luard's hands.

The incident was eventful. Quite suddenly the colour leaped into her
face and her eyes blazed. In total unconsciousness of self, she stepped
forward to the table.

Deerehurst, closely watchful of her, moved to her side.

"Shall I stake again?" he asked in a whisper.

But she did not turn her head.

"No!--no!" she cried. "I'll stake for myself."

Her voice sounded distant and absorbed. It seemed in that brief moment
that she had forgotten her companion and herself.

Thrice she staked, and thrice lost; but the losses whetted her desires.
She played boldly, with a certain reckless grace born of complete
unconsciousness. At last fortune favoured her, and she won. Deerehurst,
still standing close beside her, saw the expression of her face, saw
the careless--the almost inconsequent--air with which she accepted her
spoils; and, noting both, he touched her arm.

"You are a true gambler!" he said very softly. "You care nothing for
gain or loss. You play for the play's sake!"

And Clodagh, with her mind absorbed and her eyes on the roulette-board,
gave a quick, high-pitched, unthinking laugh.

CHAPTER XII

At nine o'clock on the night following her first venture in the world
of gambling, Clodagh was again standing by the roulette-table in Lady
Frances Hope's salon. She had been playing for two hours, with luck
persistently against her; but no one who had chanced to glance at her
eager, excited face would have imagined even for a moment that the
collection of coins in her gold purse was dwindling and not increasing.

Deerehurst had been correct in his deductions. She played for the
play's sake. The losing game--the hazardous game was the one which
appealed to, and absorbed, her; the savour of risk stimulated her; the
faint sense of danger lifted her to an encha