“Well, that’s right—that’s the only business basis. But if it should happen to be the thing, I don’t believe you’d be personally any happier about it than I should.”
“Oh, thank you!”
“I’m not a fatalist”—
“But it would look a good deal like fatalism.”
“Yes, it would. It would look as if it were really intended to be, if it came back to us now, after it had been round to everybody else.”
“Yes; but if it was fated from the beginning, I don’t see why you didn’t take it in the beginning. I should rather wonder what all the bother had been for.”
“You might say that,” Mr. Brandreth admitted.
Ray went off on the wave of potential prosperity, and got Kane to come out and dine with him. They decided upon Martin’s, where the dinner cost twice as much as at Ray’s hotel, and had more the air of being a fine dinner; and they got a table in the corner, and Ray ordered a bottle of champagne.
“Yes,” said Kane, “that is the right drink for a man who wishes to spend his money before he has got it. It’s the true gambler’s beverage.”
“You needn’t drink it,” said Ray. “You shall have the vin ordinaire that’s included in the price of the dinner.”