“None of us would, if in your place, captain,” laughed the doctor. “And, for my part, I am glad I did not play against her luck.”
The captain mumbled something about a difference between luck and skill, while ’Tana swept the money off the table and laughed—not a pleasant laugh, either.
“One—two—three—four!—twenty dollars—that is about a dollar a minute, isn’t it?” she asked provokingly. “Well, captain, I guess we are square up to to-night, and if you want to open another account, I’m ready.”
She spoke with the dash and recklessness of a boy. Lyster noticed it again, and resented it silently. But when she turned, she read the displeasure in his eyes.
“Oh, it’s you, is it?” she inquired airily. “Is it time for our dance? You see, the captain wanted some amusement, and, as the doctor was nearly asleep over the cards, I came in and helped them out.”
“Beautifully,” agreed the doctor.
But Lyster borrowed no cheeriness from their smiles.
“I think it is our dance,” Lyster observed. “And if you will come—”
“Certain,” she said, with a nod; but at the door she paused. “Won’t you keep this money for me?” she asked. “I’ve no pocket. And just put a five in a locked pocket ’for keeps,’ please; I owe it to you.”
“To me? You won that five.”