“On the contrary, I am a wretch of a thousand hearts,” he corrected. “How long would you continue to love me if I had any less?”
“Adam! I don’t love you, and you know it.”
“That leaves a vacancy in my life which I shall fill at once,” he told her. “Wait—perhaps I can catch the eye of the Countess.”
The Countess had one of the most catchable eyes imaginable. She came up immediately.
“Margaret says she no longer loves me,” said the incorrigible Rust, “I shall give her place to you.”
CHAPTER II.
ILLNESS IN THE FAMILY.
Sick of the women, to all of whom he made love, openly, to avoid being thought serious by any; weary of the specious show, which failed to bring him the forgetfulness he craved, Adam left the assemblage early and went to search out the beef-eaters, at their humble quarters.
Improvidents that they were, Pike and Halberd had soon dispersed the not inconsiderable sum of money which Adam had divided between them, since which time he had provided the pair with their lodgings, keep, clothing and amusements.
The night being fine and the air soon reviving the rover’s livelier moods of delight in sheer existence, he found himself loitering along, stopping to look in the windows of the scattered shops still open for the tag-ends of the day’s trading. It was only the little knick-knack shops, old curio dens and lesser establishments that still had their lights aglow, but it happened that these were the particular ones in which Adam took an interest.