s of his self-esteem--his vanity was the one big thing about
him. But he took his doom into his own hands and built it up like a
house of cards.

"'How does it feel to be drunk once more?' he asked, with his damnable
sneer. 'It makes you look less of a hypochondriac, anyhow. "Granny
Zeal"--that's what the girls call you.'

"'If they do I've no doubt you taught them,' I replied, in tones as low
as his own. Several men were seated not far off, but neither of us hung
out a storm signal.

"'I did,' he said. 'Not but that I had had revenge enough. I had made
you ridiculous--you with your damned superior airs--like that infant
phenomenon cousin of yours who is making the family ass of himself over
Julia Kaye--'

"Those were his last words. I pulled the pistol and fired straight into
his abdomen--knew I couldn't miss him there.

"God! what a commotion there was. He doubled up with a yell--just like
him. The men fairly bounded out of their chairs. There were two waiters
in the room--just come in with Apollinaris. Raglin slammed the doors to,
and, while Ormond and Hethrington laid Brathland out on a sofa, asked
the servants if they would hold their tongues until it was known whether
he would die or not. They assented readily enough, knowing how damned
well worth their while it was. Then he went off for a surgeon--didn't
dare telephone--went straight for a young fellow named Ballast he
happened to know, and asked him if he would probe for a bullet and call
it appendicitis, for a thousand pounds. Apparently there was no time
wasted in argument, for he returned in half an hour with his man. The
surgeon probed for the bullet, but without success. Then he bandaged
Brathland, had him carried up to Raglin's room, and sent for a nurse
that he could trust.

"We all regathered in the smoking-room, shut the waiters in the
dining-room, and talked the matter over. By this time I was more
hideously sober than I ever had been in my life. What they thought of me
I neither knew nor cared, and it is doubtful if they knew themselves;
their one thought was to keep the matter from getting out and dragging
the Club into a scandal; and of course Raglin was equally keen on
sheltering the family, whether Brathland lived or died. Anyhow, I fancy
they would have stood by me, for if we have no other virtue we do stand
by each other.

"Practically the only question was the amount to be paid in blackmail,
for every trace of the affair had been remov