“That black and red domino is my patron,” mutters the officer as he glides by unnoticed. “He does not see me and I do not wish to see him just at present.” A few steps farther and the British officer comes to a sudden halt.
“By Heavens!” he ejaculates, half aloud; “what a chance I see before me! It would be worth something to know what brought Dick Stanhope here to-night; it would be worth yet more to keep him here until after midnight. If I had an accomplice to detain him while I, myself, appear at the Agency in time, then the C—— street Raid would move without him, the lead would be given to me. It’s worth trying for. It shall be done, and my patron in black and red shall help me.”
He turns, and only looks back to mutter:
“Go on, Dick Stanhope; this night shall begin the trial that, when ended, shall decide which of the two is the better man!”
And the British officer hurries straight on until he stands beside the black and scarlet domino.
CHAPTER IX.
“A FALSE MOVE IN THE GAME.”
Pretty, piquant Winnifred French was the staunch friend of Leslie Warburton.
When Winnie was the petted only daughter of “French, the rich merchant,” she and Leslie Uliman had been firm friends. When Leslie Uliman, the adopted daughter of the aristocratic Uliman’s, gave her hand in marriage to Archibald Warburton, a wealthy invalid and a widower with one child, Winnie was her first bridesmaid.