Forty-eight hours had elapsed since I had cut Eulalie, and this was the morning of our last day at San Sebastian.
During our short stay the weather had been superb, and we had been out and about the whole day long. Of an evening—save for one memorable exception—we had been to the Casino….
For as long as I could remember, Berry had had a weakness for Roulette. For Baccarat, Petits Chevaux, and the rest he cared nothing: fifty pounds a year would have covered his racing bets: if he played Bridge, it was by request. My brother-in-law was no gambler. There was something, however, about the shining wheel, sunk in its board of green cloth, which he found irresistible.
Remembering this fascination, my sister had broached the matter so soon as we had decided to visit San Sebastian, with the happy result that, ere we left Pau, her husband had promised her three things. The first was to leave his cheque-books at home; the second, to take with him no more than two hundred pounds; the third, to send for no more money.
And now the inevitable had happened.
The two hundred pounds were gone—every penny; we were not due to leave until the morrow; and—Berry was perfectly satisfied that his luck had changed. As for the promises his wife had extracted, he was repenting his rashness as heartily as she was commending her prevision.
"Nothing," said Berry, turning again to the charge, "was said about borrowing, was it?"
"No."
"Very well, then. Boy and Jonah'll have to lend me something. I'm not going to let a chance like this go."
"Sorry, old chap," said Jonah, "but we've got to pay the hotel bill.
Thanks to your activities, we're landed with——"