'Too much, indeed,' said Major Garallan suddenly; 'and, by Jove, you do right to stop, Kippilaw.'
'What the devil do you mean?' asked Shafto, becoming pale with sheer fury.
'What I say,' replied the officer coolly.
'Who the —— gave you a right to interfere?' demanded Shafto in a bullying tone.
'I have watched your play, sir, for some time past,' replied the Major quietly, 'and know right well how and why the tide of fortune turned so suddenly in your favour.'
An oath escaped Shafto, and snatching up the cards, he hurled the pack to a remote corner of the room.
'What does all this mean?' asked Kippilaw, staring half tipsily and with a scared air at the speakers.
'It means, you goose, that you have been playing with a fellow who is no better than a blackleg,' said the Major, with quiet scorn. 'No, you don't,' he added, grasping, as if with a smith's vice, the wrist of Shafto, who, uttering a cry like a jackal, seized a cut-glass decanter, with the fell intention of hurling it at the speaker's head, but the latter cowed him by one steady glance.
'You shall repent this insolence,' said Shafto, starting to his feet. 'I will teach you to question a man of honour with impunity.'
'Honour!' laughed Garallan.