They walked across the road and turned up a quiet street.
“For certain reasons it is not necessary for me to explain,” Mark said, “I went to that place for the first time tonight, and I watched the play between you and Mr. Emerson.”
“It does not matter, sir; I lost, and I am not going there again.”
“I hope, on the contrary, that you will go there again, Mr. Cotter. If I mistake not, from what I heard, you have lost considerable sums to that man.”
“I imagine, sir, that that is no business of a stranger.”
“In no way personally,” Mark replied, not heeding the angry ring in the voice, “but as an honest man it does concern me. I am absolutely convinced, sir, that that money has not been won from you fairly.”
The young man gave a start.
“Impossible!” he said shortly. “Mr. Emerson is a man of good family and a gentleman.”
“He is a man of good family, I admit, but certainly not a gentleman; his antecedents are notorious.”
“I have never heard a word against him; he is intimate with Sir James Flash and other gentlemen of position.”