"Say, you can't stay on here," the American explained impulsively. "It's a dog's life—and whatever you are, whatever you've been, you're too much of a gentleman by breeding and education to stand it. You'll have to quit; and perhaps I could think of some way out, if you——"
"I'll thank you not to try and take my waiter away from me, Mr. Kidd," broke in Alexander the Great, speaking so suddenly behind the two young men that both started "like guilty things upon a fearful summons."
"This isn't the right place for him, Alexander, and you know it," retorted Tony.
"It's the place he's engaged to stay in, until he leaves the country," Alexander persisted. "And I mean to hold him to his word, or know the reason why."
"So said another gentleman of your race once," remarked Tony Kidd. "He did business in Venice, but in the end a lady got the better of him."
"Ladies don't interfere in my concerns," grumbled Alexander, who had not a prophetic soul, and did not guess what the next few hours might have in store for him. "If Gordon leaves me without a week's notice I'll make him sorry for himself."
"He saved your place tonight, and Lord knows how many lives," said Tony.
"Dat ain't got nothing to do with the case," insisted Alexander.
"Don't bother, thanks," Loveland said hastily to Tony. "Things can't be worse than they've been tonight. Perhaps they'll be better. I shall try and fight it out here—till I can see my way."
"Pay my way," he might have said; but he did not wish to bring up the question of money between himself and Tony Kidd.