Part 5 (2/2)
”I'm mighty glad to see you, boy,” said Warrington, dropping his arms.
”You haven't changed a bit.”
”Nor you, d.i.c.k; if anything you look younger.”
”How many years is it, John?”
”Six or seven; not very long.”
”Time never seems long to a man who never has to wait for anything. I have had to reckon time with hours full of suspense, and those hours have aged me; perhaps not outwardly, but all the same, I'm an old man, John.”
”Nonsense!”
”When did you cross?”
”About a year ago, when father died. I had given up the English end of the concern two years before, and was just wandering about the continent. I was dreadfully disappointed when I learned that you had visited the shops in ninety-eight. That summer I was in Switzerland.
I had no idea there was going to be war, and never saw a newspaper till it was nearly over. I should have enlisted. And another year we pa.s.sed within two days of each other.”
”No!” Bennington exclaimed.
”Yes. It was in Italy, at Sorrento, that I learned of your nearness.
You were off for Amalfi and I had just come from there. For three days I ran across your name in the hotel registers. I tried to find your permanent address, but failed. Cook's nor the bankers in Naples knew anything about you. I tell you what, it was discouraging.”
”What luck! I was having all my mail sent direct to Mentone, where I spent the winter. Say, what do you think?”
”About what?”
”Won five thousand at Monte Carlo in one play.”
”Pounds?” exclaimed Bennington.
”Lord, no!--dollars.”
”Ah! But of course you went back and lost it?” ironically.
”On the contrary, I've never staked a dollar since. Gambling was never a habit of mine, though I dare say the moral side of the subject would not have held me back. Simply, I know that the gambler always loses, and the banker always wins, in the end. Common sense told me to quit, and I did. I brought my letter of credit home practically intact.”
”You used to play poker,” dubiously.
”Poker isn't gambling. It's surrept.i.tiously lending money to your friends.”
”You were always good at definitions,” sighed Bennington.
”I understand you've sold your holdings in the English shops?”
”Yes. I was weary of the people and what they called their conservatism, which is only a phase of stupidity. And then, besides, I loved the old home up there. I've been living there about a year now.”
<script>