The barrister took thought for a while before he inquired:
“Why did you go to the Casino to-night, if you did not patronize the tables as a rule?”
The other colored somewhat and laughed sarcastically.
“Just a final bit of folly. I dreamt that my luck had turned.”
“Dreamt?”
“Yes, last night. Three times did I imagine that I was playing roulette, and that after a certain number—whether thirteen or twenty-three I was uncertain—turned up, there was a run of seventeen on the red. The funny thing is that I had an impression that the number was twenty-three, but with a doubt that it might be thirteen. I remember, during a sub-conscious state in the third dream, resolving to listen and look more carefully to discover the exact number. But again things got blurred. The only clear point was that the run of seventeen on the red commenced at once.”
“Well?”
“Well, I took my remaining cash, went to the Casino, became a bit impatient when neither number turned up for quite a while, and when thirteen appeared I backed the red. But four times it was the black that won.”
“So I saw.”
“Have you been keeping guard over me?”