The Shadow of Tyburn Tree

sum which he might feel in honour bound to make good to his enemy, he would be laying himself open to much greater losses than he could afford to the other players.

His only consolation was a confident belief that at his next bank he would achieve his object. The glimpse he had caught of the Russian's eyes had convinced him that his victim now knew positively that he was being rooked; and there seemed little doubt that he was only waiting for a chance to pounce when there was a better prospect that someone else at the table might also see what was going on. Roger knew that to avoid such a calamity he would need all the skill he could muster, as Vorontzoff was now watching him like a lynx, and might, if he could catch him taking the next card from his cuff, expose him in front of the whole company before he could get it on to the table.

As the bank went round again Roger became more and more miserable and depressed; and the fact that he was winning small sums fairly consistently did little to cheer him. He felt that he must have been absolutely crazy to embark on this wild-cat scheme and would never have done so had he given the matter proper thought. Just before he had come down to dinner it had seemed so simple, but he knew now that his jealousy and resentment had temporarily obscured his judgment, and led him to act on an inspiration which was not only fundamentally dishonest but needed the abilities of a pro­fessional card-sharper to carry through. Yet, having once made up his mind to a course it was against his whole nature to abandon it, and the very fact that he was now so heavily committed made him more determined than ever to play the game out to its end.

Georgina, having seen how heavily he had gone down on his last bank, made a further attempt to rescue him while he appeared to have some of his earlier winnings in hand. While the bank was still two away from him she yawned and said: ' 'Tis getting quite late for a country bumpkin, like myself. What say you to ceasing play after the next hand?'

'But 'tis barely eleven o'clock,' remarked Fox in some surprise, and Vorontzoff added with a gallant little bow:

'Only a clod, Madam, would seek to rob so lovely a lady of her beauty sleep; yet if a further twenty minutes will not cause a dimming of your eyes to-morrow, I pray you let the bank complete its third round, as Mr. Brook has taken a hundred or so off me, and I would fain have a chance to get it back.'

To that there could be only one answer, so play went on, and in due course the cards were shuffled for Roger's third bank. He had now only two Queens and an Ace, left so his opportunities for cheating were limited to two out of the five cards on the table, and to his annoy­ance, Vorontzoff once more favoured the Ten. Since it was the last hand all the players, except Georgina and Mrs. Armistead, were putting on the limit, but for a third of the deck their bets practically cancelled each other's out; then Fox and Droopy entered on a run of bad luck, both losing five pounds a time on the Ace for two runs of six and four respectively, but Vorontzoff won a coup of forty pounds on the Ten, thus reducing Roger's hundred pound gain from the other two to sixty and making him, apart from his moral liability to the Russian, all square within a few pounds.

Having gathered up his winnings Vorontzoff began to bet again, this time on the Queen. There were only some twenty odd cards to go, yet in the next eight cards played three Queens came up on Roger's losing side.

He knew that it was now or never. If he could get one of his hidden Queens on to the top of the pack without anyone except the Russian seeing him do it all the odds were that he would, after all, pull off his stupid, hair- brained scheme. But he realised that, with the additional excitement which always accompanies the close of a game, all eyes were now upon him; and he could not pause; he had to go on turning up the cards at the same pace and with apparent unconcern.

The next losing card again proved to be a Queen. As he added counters to Vorontzoff's stake, turning it from forty pounds into eighty, his throat was dry and little beads of perspiration broke out on his forehead.

He expected the counters to be swept away, but, with mixed feel­ings, saw that the Russian made no move towards them. The accumulated stake being left on gave Roger one more chance to either win it back fairly or to endeavour to palm one of his Queens and carry out his plan. But if he failed to do one or the other, instead of eighty pounds he would go down for one hundred and sixty, and, as five times were the limit for doubling up, the rule would then compel Vorontzoff to remove it, so that all further chance for Roger to recover his losses would be gone for good.

Six pairs of eyes were now riveted upon him so he positively dared not attempt to cheat. Moistening his lips he turned the next card, a King and an Ace, then the next pair, an Ace and a Ten, then the next a Jack and a Queen.

A faint tremor of indrawn breaths went round the table. Roger had lost yet again. He gave the shrug of well- bred indifference that was expected of a good loser, but his palms were moist as he drew from the pool of counters in reserve a further sixteen five-pound octagonal plaques to pay up the Ambassador.

Still the Russian did not take up his winnings, now piled high upon the Queen. Instead he said quietly: 'It may be that there is yet another Queen among the remaining cards. If Monsieur Brook has the courage to extend the limit, I will give him a further opportunity to test his fortune.'

Georgina's eyes were on Roger, begging him to refuse the offer, but he ignored her glance. If he left things as they were he had already lost far more than he had the means to pay, and the Russian had challenged him to make it double or quits. Since he had let himself in for the nightmare folly, it seemed to him that he might just as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. With a pale smile at Vorontzoff he replied:

'With pleasure, Excellency.'

All thought of endeavouring to cheat had now left his mind, but as he made to turn up the next card the moisture of his fingers caused it to stick for a second; instead of falling on to the right-hand pile it hit the table- edge, hovered, and fluttered to the floor. As he stooped to recover it, the thought flashed upon him that fate was giving him a last moment opportunity to carry out his plan. With a quick move­ment he palmed one of the Queens from his inside pocket under cover of his lace ruffle.

With a murmured apology for his clumsiness he passed the few cards left in the pack to Fox, and said: 'I pray you reshuffle for me, Sir.'

Fox did as he was asked and returned the cards. As Roger took them back he covered them with his lace frilled hand and slid the Queen on top. Since five out of the six people against him had not the least suspicion that he had been cheating, none of them had any reason to suppose that his having dropped one of the cards had been anything but an accident, or gave a second thought to his rather clumsy way of taking them back from Fox. But to anyone who suspected him al­ready the movement must have been transparent.

To Roger, for a few seconds, time seemed to stand still. Every instant he expected the Russian to lurch forward, grab his wrist and accuse him. The revelation that a Queen was on top of the pack would give point to his accusation, but be no proof. Roger would then be entirely within his rights to challenge him. It darted through his mind that he would still be morally liable to his enemy for a sum which he would have very considerable difficulty in raising. But that was beside the point. As he waited, tense and expectant a little glow of triumph warmed his heart; for he felt that he had succeeded, after all, in what a few minutes before had seemed utterly impossible.

Gradually the sudden wave of elation ebbed away. Vorontzoff did nothing; said nothing. The silence seemed to Roger to become unbear­able until Fox said: 'Go on, Sir. For what are you waiting?'

With a strained smile Roger picked up the cards. He was within a hair's breadth of turning up the Queen on to the winning pile, when, with a swift movement, Vorontzoff checked him.

Roger's heart leapt. He was no longer thinking of the money, but longing for the accusation which would enable him to issue a challenge. 'God be thanked,' he thought. 'Here it comes, at last.'

But the Russian said, almost casually, 'Seeing that we are now playing outside the limit, have you any objection, Monsieur, to my giving the cards a final shuffle?'

The blood drained from Roger's face, but he could only bow and reply: 'I have no objection whatever, your Excellency.'

With the deft fingers of an expert card-player Vorontzoff shuffled the now slender deck and replaced them with a slap in front of Roger.

Picking them up he began grimly to turn them over, knowing that his Queen was now lost somewhere in the centre of the little pack. As he laid them down, first to one side then the other, he paid out or took in on the smaller bets that remained on the table. He came to the last two cards; the first was a Ten, the second a Queen.

He knew then that he had been hoist with his own petard. Instead of accusing him of cheating, Vorontzoff had chosen to await his oppor­tunity, and under the eyes of the whole table, being a really skilful cheat, had, during