“Very good. We’ll go back to Victoria in the morning, and we’ll both meet the steamer. But what possessed you to send for her at this time of year? Hongkong is bad enough for strong men.”
“My girl is all I have in the world, and I haven’t seen her for so long,” replied Eaton, visibly brightening. “Maybe it was a father’s selfishness, but I reckon she needs my care.”
“Your care!” said Elliott, brutally. “Where are you going to sleep to-night? Come with me to my hotel.”
“I had planned such a happy home,” Eaton went on, as they walked through the moonlit streets. “I have had a hard life, but I had hoped to settle here in comfort with my little girl. We can do it, can’t we?”
“I suppose so,” replied Elliott. “Though it seems to me that Hongkong is a mighty poor place for a happy home.”
“It isn’t the place; it’s the love and peace,” the gambler prattled on, cheerfully. He appeared quite happy and restored in having thrown his cares upon Elliott’s shoulders. “I have fallen into sin more than once already, but the Lord knows how sorely I have repented, and His grace is abounding. Don’t you think they must have cheated me in that place?”
“Oh, no. You were just out of luck. You should never play when you are out of luck,” said Elliott, sagely.
“It seems to me that I ought to have won. I suppose you have gambled sometimes. Did you ever win?”
“Occasionally.”
“Well, luck or not, I shall never stake money again. I have been treated with more mercy than I deserve. I just begin to realize the horrible pit that I barely escaped. What would have become of me? I hardly dare to think of it. You have saved me, perhaps soul as well as body.”