“Certainly not. And you put up no stakes?”
“Not a penny, madam. Why should I?”
“To make it interesting, as they doubtless said. The Colonel, as all the town knows, is a notorious capper and steerer, and the fellow Brady is no better, no worse. Had you stayed with them and suffered them to persuade you into betting, you would soon have been fleeced as clean as a shaved pig. The little gains they are permitted to make, to draw you on, is their pay. Their losses if any would have been restored to them, but not yours to you.”
“Strange to say, they have just accused me of being a ‘capper,’” I answered, nettled as I began to comprehend.
“From what cause, sir?”
“Madam,” I Uttered Foolishly, “Good Evening.”
“They seemed to think that I am smarter than to my actual credit, for one thing.” I, of course, could not involve her in the subject, and indeed could not 86 understand why she should have been held responsible, anyway. “And probably they were peeved because I insisted upon eating supper and then following my own bent.”
“You were about to leave them?” Her face brightened. “That is good. They were disappointed in finding you no gudgeon to be hooked by such raw methods. And you’ve not had supper yet? Promise me that you will take up with no more strangers or, I assure you, you may wake in the morning with your pockets turned inside out and your memory at fault. This is Benton.”