“Thank you very much,” said Luke.
“You will come?”
“I should like nothing better.”
And so the music went on--and the game. Some played a losing game from the beginning, and others played without quite knowing the stake. Some held to certain rules, while others made the rules as they went along--as children do--ignorant of the tears that must inevitably follow. But Fate placed all the best cards in Mrs. Harrington’s hand.
Luke and the Count Cipriani de Lloseta went out of the house together. They walked side by side for some yards while a watchful hansom followed.
“Can I give you a lift?” said De Lloseta at length. “I am going down to the Peregrinator’s.”
“Thanks, no. I shall go straight to my rooms. I have not had my clothes off for three nights.”
“Ah, you sailors! I am going down to have my half-hour over a book to compose my mind.”
“Do you read much?”
De Lloseta called the cab with a jerk of his head. Before stepping into it he looked keenly into his companion’s face.