--pledged to
you--a debt which would mean dishonor to me."

"I didn't know that. No. How did that happen?" said Drake, sitting down
and gazing anxiously at him.

"I lost my head--absolutely--completely. I did just what Forshay and
DeLancy did--gambled with money that didn't belong to me. I lived in a
nightmare. Mr. Drake, I lost my bearings. Now I'm going to get them
back." He paused, drew breath, and continued earnestly: "Now you
understand why I don't deserve a cent of that money even if you could
swear to me you didn't use me purposely, which you can't! I pretty
nearly went over the line, Mr. Drake, and it wasn't my fault I didn't,
either. I guess I'm not built right for this sort of life--that's the
short of it."

"You are young, very young, Tom," said Drake slowly. "Young people look
at things through their emotions. That's what you're doing!"

"Thank God," said Bojo, and it seemed to him for the first time a
feeling of peace returned.

"What do you want to do?" said Drake, frowning and rising.

"I can not return you the two hundred thousand dollars," said Bojo
slowly. "I paid one friend thirty-eight thousand to cover his losses, to
save him from disgrace and dishonor in the eyes of a woman; another
friend refused to accept a cent. I paid to the estate of Forshay every
cent of indebtedness he owed the firm--fifty-two odd thousand dollars.
Forshay gambled because he thought I knew. That makes over ninety
thousand dollars. The rest--one hundred and fifty-nine thousand--I will
return to you."

"Good heavens, Tom, you did that?" said Drake, taking out his
handkerchief. He sat down in his chair, overcome. For a long interval no
one spoke, and then from the chair a voice came out that sounded not
like Drake but something bodiless. "That's awful--awful. From my point
of view I have played the game as others, as square as the squarest. I
have lost thousands of thousands sticking to a friend, thousands in
keeping to my word. This is not business, this is war. Those who go in,
who intend to gamble with life, to fight with thousands and millions,
must go in to take the consequences. If they ever get me it'll be
because some one has turned traitor, not because I've sold out or done
anything disreputable. If others were ruined in Pittsburgh & New
Orleans, that's because they were willing to make money by smashing up
some other person's property. It was their fault, not mine. If a man
can't control himself--his fault. I