ery scientific man
should have a sense of mystery--it's more useful to him than to
most of his fellows. Anyway I'd tried my luck on Bob La
Touche's long bygone dream.

"Several pairs of eyes began to regard me with interest: and the
croupier, as he pushed my spoil across, spared me a glance
inscrutable but scrutinising. I make no doubt that had I helped
to make up the next game, quite a number of the punters would
have backed my infant fortune. But I didn't. Farrell had
slewed about in his chair for to look up at the newcomer: and at
sight of his dropped jaw, as he recognised me, I smiled,
gathered up my wealth and walked out.

"I took a seat in the Casino garden, overlooking the sea.
'Sort of thing,' I found myself murmuring, 'might happen once in
a blue moon,' and with that was aware that a sort of blue
moonlight was indeed bathing the garden, though the moon's
reflection lay yellow enough across the still Mediterranean.
[Here, for description, turn up Matt. Arnold's _A Southern
Night_: possibly still copyrighted.]

"Farrell came out. He spotted me at once; for to help the moon,
as well as to dispel the heavy scent of the gaming-room, I was
lighting a cigar. He took a couple of turns on the terrace and
halted in front of me. His manner was nervous.

"'Excuse me, Professor--' he began.

"'Excuse me, Mr. Farrell,' I corrected him; 'I am a Professor no
longer. You may call me Doctor Foe, if you like. . . . Did
Number 17 win a third time?'

"'I--I fancy not," he stammered. 'To tell the truth, your sudden
appearance here, when I supposed you to be in London--and at
Monte Carlo, of all places--But perhaps you are a devotee of the
fickle goddess? Men of learning,' he floundered on, 'find
relaxation--complete change of interest. Darwin--the great
Darwin--used to read novels: the worse the novel, the better he
liked it--or so I've heard.'

"'As it happens,' said I, 'this is my first visit to Monte
Carlo.'

"'Indeed?' He brightened and became yet more fatuous.
'Then we may call it a coincidence, eh?--a veritable
coincidence. When I saw you--But first of all, let me
congratulate you on your luck.'

"'Thank you,' I said. 'I will make a note that your first
impulse on encountering me was to congratulate me on my