When Yootha and Preston were alone again, the girl returned to the subject of her play.
“It is so exciting, Charlie,” she exclaimed. “I must try my luck again to-morrow, I really must. In some ways Jessica is a wonderful woman; she tells me she nearly always wins, so that by doing just what she does——”
“You seem suddenly to have taken a fancy to Jessica,” her lover interrupted. “I never thought you would do that, dear.”
“Nor did I, Charlie,” she replied at once. “And I haven’t exactly taken a fancy to her, only I think—well, I think we have misjudged her to some extent.”
“After the things you know she said about Cora?”
“I don’t actually know she said them, because I didn’t hear her say them. After all, we were only told she said those things, and you know how people exaggerate.”
Preston was silent.
“I wish you wouldn’t play again, darling,” he suddenly exclaimed earnestly. “You have no idea how the craving to play can get hold of you. I hoped so much to-night that you would lose.”
“Hoped that I should lose!”
“Yes, so that you wouldn’t want to play again; so that you would grow disgusted with the game before it had time to get a hold on you.”