'I have not!'
'Look for yourself, then.'
'Where?'
'Under the table.'
'By Jove, there are cards there!' said Hew, with well simulated surprise, as he hastily picked them up; 'but they were never dropped by me.'
'By who, then?'
To gain time, or avoid reply, Hew addressed himself to his brandy and soda, of which he had imbibed more than enough already.
'Never again shall I play with you' ('you scoundrel,' Cecil was on the point of adding); 'and if I do not expose your play to Sir Piers and the public, it is only because I have a sincere respect for your family. This is my score,' he continued, taking up a memorandum, 'more than one hundred pounds, which I must have paid you, but for this most fortunate discovery, which cancels everything!'
With these words, Falconer tore up the paper and scattered the fragments, while Hew, unsteady in his movements now, clutched the back of his chair with both hands, grew very pale in the face, and literally glared at him with his shifty green eyes.
'You are mistaken, Mr. Falconer,' he said thickly.