Seated together in the library of Nick’s residence, half-an-hour later, the latter took up the subject where he had dropped it on the street.
“Love, that’s it,” said Nick, lighting a cigar. “And it’s just what I would have expected of Mose Flood. He’s as odd a man as stands in leather. As grand a man, too, barring his one deplorable vice.”
“He has a legion of friends, Nick, there’s no doubt of that,” observed Chick. “You say that he is in love with Doctor Royal’s daughter, eh? Was that what led to his move of to-night?”
“Exactly,” nodded Nick. “There’s a curious side to the affair, however. Flood has never told the girl of his love, and he has no idea that she cares for him. He took the rector’s word for it this afternoon that she loves Kendall and is engaged to marry him.”
“Well?”
“In some way, Chick, he must have learned that Kendall is short in his accounts to the tune of ninety thousand dollars.”
“So he forced Kendall to win that amount, knowing that he would use it to square himself? Was that it?”
“No doubt of it.”
“But why did he not give Kendall the money openly, without compelling him to make a play for it?”
“For several reasons, all characteristic of Moses Flood. First, he aimed to insure that Dora Royal should never learn of Kendall’s crime, or that he had saved him in this way for her sake. He does not want the girl to feel under obligations to him. Possibly he feared that she might object to her lover’s accepting money from a gambler, even to keep him out of jail. Second, he aimed to spare Kendall the shame of knowing that his crime had been discovered, or was at least suspected. So he forced him to win the money, instead of giving it to him openly.”