A gentle touch upon the elbow made me leap round in my chair. Old
Charles Duchaine had ceased to play and was watching me out of his mild
eyes. His fingers stroked my coat-sleeve timidly, as though he were
afraid of me.

"Don't go away!" he said with a shrewd leer. "Don't go away!"

"Eh?" I exclaimed, startled at this answer to my own self-questioning.

"Simon is a bad man," whispered the greybeard, putting his nodding head
close down to mine. "He won't let you go away. He never lets anyone
go when they have come here. He didn't know my little daughter was
going, but I was too clever for him, because he wasn't here. They
think I am a silly old man, but I know more than they think. Simon
thinks he has got me in his power, but he hasn't."

"How is that?" I inquired, startled at the man's sincerity. I fancied
that he must have been pretending to be half imbecile for reasons of
his own.

"I have a system," leered the dotard. "I can win thousands and
millions with it. I have been perfecting it for years. I have sent my
little daughter to New York to play. Then I shall put Simon out of the
house and we shall all be happy in Quebec together."

I turned from him in disgust, and, after ineffectually tapping my arm
for a few moments, he went back to his wheel. But, though I was
disappointed to discover that my surmise as to his playing a part was
incorrect, his words set me thinking. An imbecile old person is often
a fair reader of character. Was Simon plotting something?

He came back with Jacqueline before I could decide.

"If you bid him, _madame_, M. Hewlett is willing to take his
departure," said Leroux to her. "Is it your wish that he remain or go?"

"Oh, I want you to go, _monsieur_," said Jacqueline, clasping her hands
pleadingly. Her eyes were full of tears, which trickled down her
cheeks, and she turned her head away. "There is no reason why you
should remain, _monsieur_," she said.

"Are you saying this of your free will, Jacqueline?" I cried.

She nodded, and I saw Simon's evil face crease with suppressed mirth.

I rose up. "Adieu, then, _madame_," I said. "But first permit me to
restore the money that I have been keeping for you." And I took out my
pocketbook.

Simon stared at me incredulously.

"I do not understand you in the least, now, M. Hewlett," he exclaimed.
"You are to keep the money. I do not go back upon my bargains."

"It is not, however, your money," I retorted, t