"
"A hundred or two! Oh, Tony, have you got into debt again?"
"I haven't been running up bills, if that's what you mean. But I've had bad
luck at cards--and of course I had to square things up."
Ann suppressed a sigh. It was the same old story--that ineradicable gaming
spirit which had come down from sire to son through half a dozen
generations, and which seemed to have concentrated in full strength in the
offspring of poor Dick Brabazon.
A few questions elicited the facts. Following upon his return from
Switzerland Tony had been playing cards regularly, with, as he explained,
"the most infernal luck--I made an absolute corner in Yarboroughs night
after night." The set of people with whom he mixed played unusually high
points--Brett Forrester's set, as a matter of fact, although he himself had
cleared out of town early in order to go yachting. Then, after losing far
more than he could afford to pay, Tony had tried to recoup his fortunes by
backing a few horses, and another hundred had been added to his original
losses. Ultimately, when he and his uncle had gone down to Lorne, he had
been compelled to make a clean breast of things and ask for money with
which to settle his debts.
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