The other players arose also. All seemed tired, and this break was sufficient to conclude the game.
Seeing that the party was ended, Waddell dropped into a chair for a momentary rest. The others sat down to chat for a few brief minutes.
“The game is over, gentlemen?”
The question was asked by a man who had just entered the smoking room from a side door. Had this individual arrived a short while earlier, he would have come under the immediate surveillance of the old gentleman with the cane. The new arrival was Ivan Motkin.
“Yes,” said Waddell, in a friendly tone, “we have just finished. Perhaps some of the others would like to continue—”
“I seldom play cards,” interposed Motkin. “It would be a good habit for me, as I am sometimes troubled with insomnia. I found it difficult to sleep tonight. I have been strolling on the deck.”
“Sleep,” observed Waddell, “is one of my indulgences, day or night. Sometimes, during rough voyages, I have found sleep difficult at sea. But on this trip, with the fine stateroom that I have, it is most enjoyable.”
“You engaged a good stateroom?” questioned one of the other men.
“Two excellent staterooms,” responded Waddell. “Adjoining rooms; one for myself and one for my daughter. Young Tholbin — a friend of mine — made the arrangements. He made only one mistake. Through some oversight, he found it necessary to put a large trunk in the inner room. It is a nuisance there.”
“Why didn’t it go in the hold?”