to come around. Here is a twenty-dollar
bill."

Kimberlin took the bill and started down through the corridor towards
the bar. He clutched the money tightly in his palm; it felt warm and
comfortable, and sent a delicious tingling through his arm. How many
glorious hot meals did that bill represent? He clutched it tighter and
hesitated. He thought he smelled a broiled steak, with fat little
mushrooms and melted butter in the steaming dish. He stopped and looked
back towards the door of the booth. He saw that the stranger had closed
it. He could pass it, slip out the door, and buy something to eat. He
turned and started, but the coward in him (there are other names for
this) tripped his resolution; so he went straight to the bar and made
the purchase. This was so unusual that the man who served him looked
sharply at him.

"Ain't goin' to drink all o' that, are you?" he asked.

"I have friends in the box," replied Kimberlin, "and we want to drink
quietly and without interruption. We are in Number 7."

"Oh, beg pardon. That's all right," said the man.

Kimberlin's step was very much stronger and steadier as he returned
with the liquor. He opened the door of the booth. The stranger sat at
the side of the little table, staring at the opposite wall just as he
had stared across the street. He wore a wide-brimmed, slouch hat, drawn
well down. It was only after Kimberlin had set the bottle, pitcher, and
glasses on the table, and seated himself opposite the stranger and
within his range of vision, that the pale man noticed him.

"Oh! you have brought it? How kind of you! Now please lock the door."

Kimberlin had slipped the change into his pocket, and was in the act of
bringing it out when the stranger said,--

"Keep the change. You will need it, for I am going to get it back in a
way that may interest you. Let us first drink, and then I will
explain."

The pale man mixed two drinks of absinthe and water, and the two drank.
Kimberlin, unsophisticated, had never tasted the liquor before, and he
found it harsh and offensive; but no sooner had it reached his stomach
than it began to warm him, and sent the most delicious thrill through
his frame.

"It will do us good," said the stranger; "presently we shall have more.
Meanwhile, do you know how to throw dice?"

Kimberlin weakly confessed that he did not.

"I thought not. Well, please go to the bar and bring a dice-box. I
would ring for it, but I don't want the waiters