[“The man’s an ass,” thought Lovibond.]
“I shall not trouble him much longer with my presence here,” Mrs. Quiggin continued, and Lovibond looked up inquiringly.
“I am going back home soon,” she added. “But if before I go some friend would help me to save my husband from himself——”
Lovibond rose in an instant. “I am at your service, Mrs. Quiggin,” he said briskly. “Have you thought of anything?”
“Yes. They tell me that he is gambling, and that all the cheats of the island are winning from him.”
“Well?”
The pale face turned very red, and quivered visibly about the lips.
“I have heard him say, when he has spoken of you, Mr. Lovibond, that—that—but will you forgive what I am going to tell you?”
“Anything,” said Lovibond.
“That out on the coast you could win from anybody. I remembered this when they told me that he was gambling, and I thought if you would play against my husband—for me———”