was the dark-eyed man with the cigar, and it was upon thetable before him that he gave illustrations of his marvellous discoveryto his clients. All the systems of Jacquard, Yaucanson, Fulton,Descartes and Copernic were declared to be mere jumbles of falseprinciples, and held up to derision. This was actually infallible.Nice had heard of a good many methods of winning before, but never oneput forward by an inventor sufficiently confident to offer to bear thelosses; hence, from the hours of ten to twelve, and two to six, thefoppishly-attired man who declared in his circular, "_Je mis la force,parceque je suis la verite_," was kept busy instructing amateurgamesters how to act when at Monte Carlo, and receiving substantial feesfor so doing.
The clocks had chimed ten, and the street was quiet. The old woman, whowith difficulty had been reading the feuilleton in the _Petit Nicois_yawned, flung down her paper, and glanced over at the cosmopolitanadventurer who, with his head thrown back, was staring at the ceiling,humming in a not unmusical voice the catchy refrain of Varney's popular"Serenade du Pave--"
"Sois bonne, O ma chere inconnue, Pour qui j'ai si souvent chante! Ton offrande est la bienvenue, Fais-moi la charite! Sois bonne, O ma chere inconnue, Pour qui j'ai souvent chante! Devant moi, devant moi Sois la bienvenue?"
So light-hearted he seemed that possibly he had succeeded in inventingsome other system whereby the pockets of the long-suffering public mightbe touched. Suddenly a footstep on the landing outside caused them bothto start and exchange quick glances. Then the bell rang, and theconqueror of the hazard rose and opened the door.
Their visitor was Zertho. He was in evening clothes, having left thetheatre early to stroll round there.
"Well, Mother Valentin," he exclaimed in French, tossing his hatcarelessly upon the table, and sinking into a chair. "Rheumatism stillbad--eh?"
"Ah, yes, m'sieur," croaked the old woman in the Provencal patois,"still very bad," and grunting, she rose, and hobbled out of the room.
"And how's business?" Zertho inquired of the other.
"Pretty fair. Lots of mugs in the town just now," he smiled, speakingin Cockney English.
"That handbill of yours is about the cheekiest bit of literature I'veever come across," he said, nodding towards one of the remarkabledocuments tacked upon the wall.
"It has drawn 'em like honey draws flies," said the other, smiling andregarding it with pride. "The offer to pay the losses does it. You canalways make a lie truth by lying large enough."
He had resumed his seat, and was puffing contentedly at his cigar.
"It's a really marvellous specimen of bluff," Zertho observed, in a toneof admiration. "When I first saw it I feared that you had been a bittoo extravagant in your promises."
"The bigger your promise the greater your success. I've always found itthe same with all the wheezes I've worked," he replied. "I saw youdriving with Brooker's daughter a few days ago. You seem to be havingan uncommonly good time of it," he added.
"Can't complain," Zertho said, leaning back with a self-complacent air."Patrician life suits me after being so many years an outsider."
"No doubt it is pleasant," his companion answered with a meaning look,"if one can completely bury the past."
"I have buried it," Zertho answered quickly.
Max Richards, the inventor of "The Agony of Monte Carlo," regarded theman before him with a supercilious smile. "And you pay me to preventits exhumation--eh?"
"I thought we had agreed not to mention the matter again," Zerthoexclaimed, darting at his crafty-looking fellow-adventurer a look ofannoyance and suspicion.
"My dear fellow," answered the other quite calmly, "I have no desire torefer to it. If you are completely without regret, and your mind isperfectly at ease, well, I'm only too happy to hear it. I have sincereadmiration, I assure you, for a man who can forget at will. I wish Icould."
"I do not forget," Zertho snapped. "Your confounded demands will neverallow me to forget."
The thin-faced man smiled, lazily watching the smoke ascend from anunusually good weed.
"It is merely payment for services rendered," he observed. "I'm not thelucky heir to an estate, therefore I can't afford to give peopleassistance gratis."
"No," cried Zertho in a tumult of anger at the remembrance of recentoccurrences. "No, you're an infernal blackmailer!"
Richards smiled, quite undisturbed by his visitor's sudden ebullition ofwrath, and, turning to him said,--
"My dear fellow, whatever can you gain by blackguarding me? Why, everyword you utter is in self-condemnation."
Zertho was silent. Yes, it was the truth what this man said. He was afool to allow his anger to get the better of him. Was it not Napoleonwho boasted that the success of all his great schemes was due to thefact that he never permitted his anger to rise above his throat?
His face relaxed into a sickly smile.
"I'm weary of your constant begging and threatening," he said at last."I was a fool in the first instance. If I had allowed you to speak noone would have believed you. Instead of that, I generously gave you themoney you wanted."
"I'm glad you say `generously'," his companion observed, smiling."Generosity isn't one of your most engaging characteristics."
"Well, I've been generous to you--too generous, for you have nowincreased your demands exorbitantly."
"I'm poor--while you can afford to pay."
"I can't--I won't afford," retorted Zertho, determinedly. "When mengrow wealthy they are always imposed upon by men such as you," he added."I admit that the service you rendered deserved payment. Well, Iliquidated the debt honourably. Then you immediately levied blackmail,and have ever since continued to send me constant applications formoney."
"A man who can afford to forget his past can afford to be reminded ofthe debt he owes," answered the man, still smoking with imperturbablecoolness.
"But I tell you I won't stand it any longer. You've strained the corduntil it must now snap."
"Very well, my dear fellow," answered the other, with an air of impudentnonchalance. "You know your own business best. Act as you think fit."
"I shall. This is my last visit here."
"No doubt. My present wheeze is getting about played out. A good thinglike this can't run for any length of time. In a week, for obviousreasons, I shall lock up the doors and depart with Mother Valentin,leaving the landlord looking for his rent and my clients thirsting formy vitals. Yes, you are right, my dear Zertho, when you say this willbe your last visit here. But if the mountain will not come to Mahomet,the latter must go to the mountain. I may, perhaps, call upon you, mydear Zertho."
"No, you sha'n't. I shall give orders that you are not to be admitted."
"You will scarcely do that, I think," he answered, still smiling. Thewhole bearing of the man betrayed confidence in his position.
"But I tell you I will. I have come here to-night in fulfilment of yourdemand. It is, however, the last time that we shall meet."
"I hope so."
"Why?"
"I hope that you'll pay me a sum sufficient to obviate the necessity ofus meeting again. I assure you that the pleasure of your company is notunmixed with dislike."
"It is mutual," Zertho snapped, annoyed at the man's unmitigatedinsolence. "I'll pay you nothing more than what you demanded in yourletter yesterday," and taking from his pocket a wallet of dark-greenleather with silver mountings, he counted out four five-hundred-francnotes, and tossed them angrily upon the table, saying, "Make the best ofthem, for you won't get another sou from me."
The man addressed stretched out his hand, took the notes, smoothed themout carefully, and slowly placed them in his pocket.
"Then we are enemies?" he observed at last, after a long pause. Helooked straight into Zertho's face.
"Enemies or friends, it makes no difference to me. It does not alter mydecision."
His companion slowly knocked the ash from his cigar, then continuedsmoking in silence.
"Well, you don't speak," excla
imed Zertho, impatiently, at last,twirling his dark moustache. "What is your intention?"
"I never show my hand to my opponent, my dear fellow," was the quickretort. "And I know you are never unwise enough to do so."
Zertho had his match in this _chevalier d'industrie_, and was aware ofit.
"You think I'm still in fear?" he said.
"I don't know; neither do I care," the other answered. "If