HOW JONAH TOOK OFF HIS COAT, AND BERRY FLIRTED WITH FORTUNE FOR ALL HE
WAS WORTH
"My dear," said Berry, "be reasonable."
"With pleasure," said Daphne. "But I'm not going to let you off."
Her husband frowned upon a roll.
"When I say," he said, "that I have a feeling to-day that my luck is
in, I'm not being funny. Only once before have I had that conviction.
I was at Cannes at the time--on the point of leaving for Paris. I went
to Monte Carlo instead.... That night I picked up over six hundred
pounds."
"I know," said his wife. "You've often told me. But I can't help it.
I made you give me your word before we came here, and I'm not going to
let you off."
"I gave it without thinking," declared her husband. "Besides, I never
dreamed I should have this feeling."
"I did," said Daphne shortly. "That's why I made you promise. Have
some more coffee?"
Pointedly ignoring the invitation, Berry returned to his roll and,
after eyeing it with disgust which the bread in no way deserved,
proceeded to disrupt and eviscerate it with every circumstance of
barbarity. Covertly, Jonah and I exchanged smiles....
Forty-eight hours had elapsed since I had cut Eulalie, and this was the
morning of our last day at San Sebastian.
During our short stay the weather had been superb, and we had been out
and about the whole day long. Of an evening--save for one memorable
exception--we had been to the Casino....
For as long as I could remember, Berry had had a weakness for Roulette.
For Baccarat, _Petits Chevaux_, and the rest he cared nothing: fifty
pounds a year would have covered his racing bets: if he played Bridge,
it was by request. My brother-in-law was no gambler. There was
something, however, about the shining wheel, sunk in its board of green
cloth, which he found irresistible.
Remembering this fascination, my sister had broached the matter so soon
as we had decided to visit San Sebastian, with the happy result that,
ere we left Pau, her husband had promised her three things. The first
was to leave his cheque-books at home; the second, to take with him no
more than two hundred pounds; the third, to send for no more money.
And now the inevitable had happened.
The two hundred pounds were gone--every penny; we were not due to leave
until the morrow; and--Berry was perfectly satisfied that his luck had
changed. As for the promises his wife had extracted, he was repenting
his rashness as heartily as she was commending her prevision.
"Nothing," said Berry, turning again to the charge, "was said about
borrowing, was it?"
"No."
"Very well, then. Boy and Jonah'll have to lend me something. I'm not
going to let a chance like this go."
"Sorry, old chap," said Jonah, "but we've got to pay the hotel bill.
Thanks to your activities, we're landed with----"
"How much have you got?" demanded Berry.
I cut in and threw the cards on the table.
"Brother," I said, "we love you. For that reason alone we won't lend
you a paper franc. But then you knew that before you asked us."
My brother-in-law groaned.
"I tell you," he affirmed, "you're throwing away money. With another
two hundred and fifty I could do anything. I can feel it in my bones."
"You'd lose the lot," said Jonah. "Besides, you've eaten your cake.
If you'd limited yourself last night and played rationally, instead of
buttering the board...."
"I'm sure," said Jill, "you ought to have played on a system. If you'd
put a pound on 'RED' and kept on doubling each time you lost----"
"Yes," said Berry. "That's an exhilarating stunt, that is. Before you
know where you are, you've got to put two hundred and fifty-six pounds
on an even chance to get one back. With a limit of four hundred and
eighty staring you in the face, that takes a shade more nerve than I
can produce. I did try it once--at Madeira. Luck was with me. After
three hours I'd made four shillings and lost half a stone....
Incidentally, when a man starts playing Roulette on a system, it's time
to pray for his soul. I admit there are hundreds who do it--hundreds
of intelligent, educated, thoughtful men and women. Well, you can pray
for the lot. They're trying to read something which isn't written.
They're studying a blank page. They're splitting their brains over a
matter on which an idiot's advice would be as valuable. I knew a
brilliant commercial lawyer who used to sit down at the table and
solemnly write down every number that turned up for one hour. For the
next sixty minutes he planked still more solemnly on the ones that had
turned up least often. Conceive such a frame of mind. That wonderful
brain had failed to grasp the one simple glaring point of which his
case consisted--that Roulette is lawless. He failed to appreciate that
he was up against Fortune herself. He couldn't realise that because
'7' had turned up seven times running at a quarter past nine, that was
no earthly reason why '7' shouldn't turn up eight times running at a
quarter past ten. Heaven knows what fun he got out of it. For me, the
whole joy of the thing is that you're flirting with Fate." He closed
his eyes suddenly and flung back his head. "Oh," he breathed, "I tell
you she's going to smile to-night. I can see the light in her eyes. I
have a feeling that she's going to be very kind ... very kind ...
somehow ..."
We let him linger over the fond reflection, eyeing one another
uneasily. It was, we felt, but the prelude to a more formidable attack.
We were right.
"I demand," barked Berry, "that I be allowed the wherewithal to
prosecute my suit."
"Not a farthing," said Daphne. "To think that that two hundred pounds
is gone makes me feel ill."
"That's exactly why I want to win it back--and more also." He looked
round desperately. "Anybody want a birthright? For two hundred and
fifty quid--I'd change my name."
"It sounds idiotic, I know," said I, "but supposing--supposing you
lost."
"I shan't to-night," said Berry.
"Sure?"
"Positive. I tell you, I feel----"
"And you," said Jonah scornfully, "you have the temerity to talk about
praying for others' souls. You sit there and----"
"I tell you," insisted Berry, "that I have a premonition. Look here.
If I don't have a dart to-night, I shall never be the same man
again.... Boy, I implore you----"
I shook my head.
"Nothing doing," I said. "You'll thank us one day."
"You don't understand," wailed Berry. "You've never known the feeling
that you were bound to win."
"Yes, I have--often. And it's invariably proved a most expensive
sensation."
There was a moment's silence. Then--
"Right," said my brother-in-law. "You're one and all determined to see
me go down. You've watched me drop two hundred, and not one of you's
going to give me a hand to help me pick it up. It may be high-minded,
but it's hardly cordial. Some people might call it churlish.... Upon
my soul, you are a cold-blooded crowd. Have you ever known a deal I
wouldn't come in on? And now, because you are virtuous, I'm to lose my
fun.... Ugh! Hymn Number Four Hundred and Seventy-Seven, 'The Cakes
and Ale are Over.'"
Struggling with laughter, Adèle left her seat and, coming quickly
behind him, set her white hands upon his shoulders.
"Dear old chap," she said, laying her cheek against his, "look at it
this way. You're begging and praying us to let you down. Yes, you
are. And if we helped you to break your word, neither you nor we would
ever, at the bottom of our hearts, think quite so much of us again.
And that's not good enough. Even if you won five thousand pounds it
wouldn't compensate. Respect and self-respect aren't things you can
buy."
"But, sweetheart," objected Berry, "nothing was said about borrowing.
Daphne admits it. If I can raise some money without reference to my
bankers, I'm at liberty to do so."
"Certainly," said Adèle. "But we mustn't help. If that was allowed,
it 'ld knock the bottom out of your promise. You and Daphne and we are
all in the same stable: and that--to mix metaphors--puts us out of
Court. If you ran into a fellow you knew, and he would lend you some
money, or you found a hundred in the street, or a letter for you
arrived----"
"--or one of the lift-boys died, leaving me sole legatee.... I see.
Then I should be within my rights. In fact, if anything which can't
happen came to pass, no one would raise any objection to my taking
advantage of it. You know, you're getting too generous."
"That's better," said Adèle. "A moment ago we were cold-blooded."
Berry winced.
"I take it back," he said humbly. "Your central heating arrangements,
at any rate, are in perfect order. Unless your heart was glowing, your
soft little cheek wouldn't be half so warm."
"I don't know about that," said Adèle, straightening her back. "But we
try to be sporting. And that's your fault," she added. "You've taught
us."
The applause which greeted this remark was interrupted by the entry of
a waiter bearing some letters which had been forwarded from Pau.
A registered package, for which Berry was requested to sign, set us all
thinking.
"Whatever is it?" said Daphne.
"I can't imagine," replied her husband, scrutinising the postmark.
"'Paris'? I've ordered nothing from Paris that I can remember."
"Open it quick," said Jonah. "Perhaps it's some wherewithal."
Berry hacked at the string....
The next instant he leaped to his feet.
"Fate!" he shrieked. "Fate! I told you my luck was in!" He turned to
his wife breathlessly. "'Member those Premium Bonds you wanted me to
go in for? Over a month ago I applied for twenty-five. I'd forgotten
about the trash--and _here they are_!"
* * * * *
Two hours and a half had gone by, and we were rounding a tremendous
horse-shoe bend on the way to Zarauz, when my wife touched Berry upon
the arm.
"Aren't you excited?" she said.
"Just a trifle," he answered. "But I'm trying to tread it under. It's
essential that I should keep cool. When you're arm in arm with
Fortune, you're apt to lose your head. And then you're done. The
jade'll give me my cues--I'm sure of it. But she won't shout them.
I've got to keep my eyes skinned and my ears pricked, if I'm going to
pick them up."
"If I," said Adèle, "were in your shoes, I should be just gibbering."
It was, indeed, a queer business.
The dramatic appearance of the funds had startled us all. Had they
arrived earlier, had they come in the shape of something less easily
negotiable than Bearer Bonds, had they been representing more or less
than precisely the very sum which Berry had named in his appeal, we
might have labelled the matter "Coincidence," and thought no more of
it. Such a label, however, refused to stick. The affair ranked with
thunder out of a cloudless sky.
As for my sister, with the wind taken out of her sails, she had hauled
down her flag. The thing was too hard for her.
It was Jonah who had sprung a mine in the midst of our amazement.
"Stop," he had cried. "Where's yesterday's paper? Those things are
Premium Bonds, and, unless I'm utterly mistaken, there was a drawing
two days ago. One of those little fellows may be worth a thousand
pounds."
The paper had confirmed his report....
The thought that, but for his wit, we might have released such
substance to clutch at such a shadow, had set us all twittering more
than ever.
At once a council had been held.
Finally it had been decided to visit a bank and, before we disposed of
the Bonds, to ask for and search the official bulletin in which are
published the results of all Government Lottery Draws.
Inquiry, however, had revealed that the day was some sort of a holiday,
and that no banks would be open....
At last a financier was unearthed--a changer of money. In execrable
French he had put himself at our service.
'Yes, he had the bulletin. It had arrived this morning...'
Feverishly we searched its pages.
Once we had found the column, a glance was enough. Our Bonds bore
consecutive numbers, of which the first figure was "o." The series
appeared to be unfortunate. The winning list contained not a single
representative.
More reassured than disappointed, we raised the question of a loan.
Our gentleman picked at the Bonds and wrinkled his nose. After a
little he offered one hundred pounds.
This was absurd, and we said so.
The Bonds were worth two hundred and fifty pounds, and were as good as
hard cash. The fellow had no office, and, when we wanted him again, as
like as not he would have disappeared. His personal appearance was
against him.
When we protested, his answer came pat.
'He was no money-lender. In the last ten years he had not advanced ten
pesetas. He was a changer of money, a broker, and nothing else.'
Finally he offered one hundred and fifty pounds--at sixty per cent. a
year _or part of a year_.
For one so ignorant of usury, this was not bad. We thanked him acidly,
offered the Bonds for sale, and, after a little calculation, accepted
two hundred and forty-three pounds in Spanish notes.
Half an hour later we had climbed into the cars, anxious to make the
most of our last day in Spain....
If the way to Zarauz was handsome, that from Zarauz to Zumaya was fit
for a king. Take us a range of mountains--bold, rugged, precipitous,
and bring the sea to their foot--no ordinary sea, sirs, but Ocean
himself, the terrible Atlantic to wit, in all his glory. And there,
upon the boundary itself, where his proud waves are stayed, build us a
road, a curling shelf of a road, to follow the line of that most
notable indenture, witnessing the covenant 'twixt land and sea, settled
when Time was born.
Above us, the ramparts of Spain--below, an echelon of rollers,
ceaselessly surging to their doom--before us, a ragged wonder of
coast-line, rising and falling and thrusting into the distance, till
the snarling leagues shrank into murmuring inches and tumult dwindled
into rest--on our right, the might, majesty, dominion and power of
Ocean, a limitless laughing mystery of running white and blue, shining
and swaying and swelling till the eye faltered before so much
magnificence and Sky let fall her curtain to spare the failing
sight--for over six miles we hung over the edge of Europe....
Little wonder that we sailed into Zumaya--all red roofs, white walls
and royal-blue timbers--with full hearts, flushed and exulting. The
twenty precious minutes which had just gone by were charged with the
spirit of the Odyssey.
Arrived at the village, we stopped, to wait for the others. So soon as
they came, we passed on slowly along the road to Deva. Perhaps a mile
from Zumaya we ate our lunch....
The comfortable hush which should succeed a hearty meal made in the
open air upon a summer's day was well established. Daphne and Adèle
were murmuring conversation: in a low voice Jill was addressing Berry
and thinking of Piers: pipe in mouth, Jonah was blinking into a pair of
field-glasses: and I was lying flat upon my back, neither smoking nor
sleeping, but gradually losing consciousness with a cigarette in my
hand.
I had come to the point of postponing through sheer lethargy the
onerous duty of lifting the cigarette to my lips, when, with an oath
that ripped the air, Jonah started to his feet.
Sleep went flying.
I sat up amazedly, propping myself on my hands....
With dropped jaw, my cousin was staring through the glasses as a man
who is looking upon sudden death. While I watched, he lowered them,
peered into the distance, clapped them again to his eyes, let them
fall, glanced swiftly to right and left, shut his mouth with a snap,
and made a dash for the cars....
With his hand upon Ping's door, he turned and pointed a trembling
forefinger along the valley.
"There's Zed," he cried. "My horse. Haven't seen him since Cambrai.
Leading a team, and they're flogging him."
I fancy he knew I should join him, for he never closed Ping's door. As
he changed into second, I swung myself inboard. A moment later we were
flying along the dusty road....
Zed had been Jonah's charger for over three years. Together, for month
after month, the two had endured the rough and revelled in the smooth.
They had shared misery, and they had shared ease. Together, many
times, they had passed through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. And,
while the animal must have loved Jonah, my cousin was devoted to the
horse. At last came Cambrai....
Jonah was shot through the knee and sent to England. And Zed--poor Zed
disappeared.
My cousin's efforts to trace him were superhuman. Unhappily his groom
had been killed, when Jonah was wounded, and, though all manner of
authorities, from the Director of Remounts downwards, had lent their
official aid, though a most particular description had been circulated
and special instructions issued to all the depots through which the
horse might pass, to his lasting grief Jonah had never heard of Zed
again.
And now.... I found myself praying that he had not been mistaken.
Jonah was driving like a man possessed.
We tore up a rise, whipped round a bend and, coming suddenly upon a
road on our right, passed it with locked wheels.
The noise my cousin made, as he changed into reverse, showed that his
love for Zed was overwhelming.
We shot backward, stopped, stormed to the right and streaked up a
shocking road at forty-five.... We flashed into a hamlet, turned at
right angles, missed a waggon by an inch and flung up a frightful track
towards a farm....
Then, before I knew what had happened, we had stopped dead, and Jonah's
door was open and he was limping across the road.
In the jaws of a rude gateway stood a waggon of stones. Harnessed to
this were three sorry-looking mules and, leading them, the piteous
wreck of what had been a blue roan. The latter was down--and out.
For this the immediate reason was plain.
The teamster, better qualified for the treadmill, had so steered his
waggon that the hub of its off fore wheel had met the gatepost. This
he had not observed, but, a firm believer in the omnipotency of the
lash, had determined to reduce the check, whatever might be its cause,
by methods of blood and iron. Either because he was the most
convenient or by virtue of his status, the leader had received the
brunt of the attack. That is, of course, one way of driving....
The blue roan was down, and his master had just kicked him in the belly
when Jonah arrived.
The Spaniard was a big fellow, but my cousin has wrists of steel....
He took the whip from its owner as one takes a toy from a baby. Then
with the butt he hit him across the mouth. The Spaniard reeled, caught
his foot on a stone and fell heavily. Jonah threw down the whip and
took off his coat.
"I don't want to kill him," he said quietly.
When the other rose, he looked extremely ugly. This was largely due to
the fact that most of his front teeth were missing and that it was
difficult, because of the blood, to see exactly where his face ended
and his mouth began. The look in his eyes, however, was suggesting the
intent to kill.
He had no idea, of course, that he was facing perhaps the one man
living who could have thrashed a champion....
It is not often that you will see half a dozen of the most illustrious
members of the National Sporting Club attending an Assault-at-Arms held
at a public school. Three years running I had that honour. The
gentlemen came to see Jonah. And though no applause was allowed during
the boxing, they always broke the rule.... In due season my cousin
went to Oxford.... In his second year, in the Inter-University
contest, he knocked his opponent out in seven seconds. The latter
remained unconscious for more than six hours, each crawling one of
which took a year off Jonah's life. From that day my cousin never put
on the gloves again....
All, however, that the Spaniard saw was a tall lazy-looking man with a
game leg, who by his gross interference had taken him by surprise.
He lowered his head and actually ran upon his fate....
I have never seen "punishment" at once so frightful and so
punctiliously administered. Jonah worked with the swift precision of
the surgeon about the operating table. He confessed afterwards that
his chief concern was to keep his opponent too blind with rage to see
the wisdom of capitulation. He need not have worried....
When it had become obvious that the blessed gifts of sight, smell, and
hearing had been almost wholly withdrawn from the gentleman, when, in
fact, he had practically ceased attempting to defend himself, and
merely bellowed with mortification at every stinging blow, Jonah
knocked him sprawling on to the midden, and drew off his wash-leather
gloves.
The next moment he was down on his knees beside the roan, plucking at
the rough harness with trembling fingers.
Once the horse sought to rise, but at Jonah's word he stopped and laid
down his head.
Between us we got him clear. Then we stood back, and Jonah called him.
With a piteous effort the roan got upon his legs. That there was back
trouble and at least one hock was sprung I saw at a glance. The horse
had been broken down. He was still blowing badly, and I ran for the
flask in the car. When I came back, Jonah was caressing his charger
with tears running down his cheeks....
There is a listlessness, born of harsh treatment, suckled on dying
hopes, reared on the bitter memory of happier days, which is more
eloquent than tears. There is an air of frozen misery, of a despair so
deep that a kind word has come to lose its meaning, which none but
horses wear.
Looking upon Zed, I felt ashamed to be a man.
Gaunt, filthy, and tottering, the flies mercilessly busy about three
shocking sores, the roan was presenting a terrible indictment to be
filed against the Day of Judgment. '...And not one of them is
forgotten before God....' But there was worse than pain of body here.
The dull, see-nothing eyes, the heavy-laden head, the awful-stricken
mien, told of a tragedy to make the angels weep--an English
thoroughbred, not dead, but with a broken heart.
We had administered the brandy, Jonah was bathing a sore, and I had
made a wisp and was rubbing Zed down, when--
"Good day," said a voice.
With his arms folded upon the sill, a little grey-headed man was
watching us from a window.
I looked up and nodded.
"Good day," I said.
"Ah like boxing," said the man. "Ah've bin twelve years in the States,
an' Ah'd rather see boxing than a bull-fight. You like baseball?"
I shook my head.
"I've never seen it," I said.
"Haven't missed much," was the reply. "But Ah like boxing. You
visiting Spain?"
"For a few days."
"'S a fine country. Bin to Sevilla?"
Entirely ignoring the violence which he had just witnessed, to say
nothing of our trespass upon his property and our continued attention
to his horse, the farmer proceeded to discuss the merits and
shortcomings of Spain with as much detached composure as if we had met
him in a tavern.
At length Jonah got up.
"Will you sell me this horse?"
"Yes," said the man. "Ah will."
"What d'you want for him?"
"Five hundred pesetas."
"Right," said Jonah. "Have you got a halter?"
The man disappeared. Presently he emerged from a door halter in hand.
The twenty pounds passed, and Zed was ours.
Tenderly my cousin fitted the halter about the drooping head.
"One more effort, old chap," he said gently, turning towards the
gate....
Out of compassion for the mules, I drew the farmer's attention to the
hub which was nursing the gatepost.
He just nodded.
"Pedro could never drive," he said.
"I should get a new carter," I said.
He shrugged his shoulders. Then he jerked his head in the direction of
the carcase upon the midden.
"He is my step-father. We do not speak," he said simply.
We found the others in the hamlet through which we had passed. There I
handed over Ping to Adèle, and thence Jonah and Zed and I walked to
Zumaya.
To find a box at the station was more than we had dared hope for, but
there it was--empty and waiting to be returned to San Sebastian.
Beneath the influence of twenty-five pesetas, the station-master saw no
good reason why it should not be returned by the evening train.
We left Jonah to accompany his horse and hurried home by car to seek a
stable.
When we sat down to dinner that night at eight o'clock, Jonah called
for the wine-list and ordered a magnum of champagne.
When the wine was poured, he raised his glass and looked at me.
"Thank you for helping me," he said. He glanced round with his eyes
glowing. "And all of you for being so glad." He drank and touched
Adèle upon the shoulder. "In a loose-box, up to his knees in straw,
with an armful of hay to pick over, and no congestion.... Have you
ever felt you wanted to get up and dance?" He turned to Berry.
"Brother, your best. May you spot the winner to-night, as I did this
afternoon."
"Thank you," said Berry, "thank you. I must confess I'd been hoping
for some sort of intuition as to what to do. But I've not had a hint
so far. Perhaps, when I get to the table.... It's silly, of course.
One mustn't expect too much, but I had the feeling that I was going to
be given a tip. You know. Like striking a dud egg, and then putting
your shirt on a horse called 'Attar of Roses.' ... Never mind. Let's
talk about something else. Why did you call him 'Zed'?"
"Short for 'Zero,'" said Jonah. "I think my groom started it, and
I----"
"Zero," said Berry quietly. "I'm much obliged."
* * * * *
It was a quarter to eleven, and Berry had lost one hundred and seventy
pounds.
Across her husband's back Daphne threw me a despairing glance. Upon
the opposite side of the table, Adèle and Jill, one upon either side of
Jonah, stared miserably before them. I lighted my tenth cigarette and
wondered what Berry had done....
The table was crowded.
From their points of vantage the eight croupiers alternately did their
business and regarded the assembly with a bored air.
A beautifully dressed American, who had been losing, observed the luck
of her neighbour, a burly Dutchman, with envious eyes. With a
remonstrance in every fingertip, a debonnaire Frenchman was laughingly
upbraiding his fellow for giving him bad advice. From above his
horn-rimmed spectacles an old gentleman in a blue suit watched the
remorseless rake jerk his five pesetas into "the Bank" in evident
annoyance. Cheek by jowl with a dainty Englishwoman, who reminded me
irresistibly of a Dresden shepherdess, a Spanish Jew, who had won, was
explosively disputing with a croupier the amount of his stake. Two
South Americans were leaning across the table, nonchalantly "plastering
the board." A little old lady, with an enormous bag, was thanking an
elegant Spaniard for disposing her stake as she desired. Finger to
lip, a tall Spanish girl in a large black hat was sizing her remaining
counters with a faint frown. A very young couple, patently upon their
honeymoon, were conferring excitedly....
"_Hagan juego, Señores._"
The conference between the lovers became more intense.
"_Esta hecho?_"
"Oh, be quick!" cried the girl. "Between '7' and '8,' Bill.
Between..."
As the money went on--
"_No va mas_," cried the croupier in charge.
Two pairs of eyes peered at the revolving wheel. They did not notice
that the Dutchman, plunging at the last moment upon 'MANQUE,' had
touched their counter with his cuff and moved it to '9.'
The ball lost its momentum, poppled across the ridges, and leaped to
rest.
"_Nueve._"
Two faces fell. I wondered if a new frock had vanished into air....
With the edge of his rake a croupier was tapping their counter and
looking round for the claimant.
For a second the Jew peered about him. Then he pointed to himself and
stretched out his hand.
I called to the croupier in French.
"No. It belongs to Monsieur and Madame. I saw what happened. That
gentleman moved it with his cuff."
"_Merci, Monsieur._"
With a sickly leer the pretender rallied the croupier, confidentially
assured the dainty Englishwoman that he did not care, and, laughing a
little too heartily, waved the thirty-five pounds towards their
bewildered owners.
"B-but it isn't mine," stammered the boy.
"Yes," I said, smiling. "Your counter was moved. I saw the whole
thing." I hesitated. Then, "If you'll take an old hand's advice,
you'll stop now. A thing like that's invariably the end of one's luck."
I was not 'an old hand,' and I had no authority for my dictum. My
interference was unpardonable. When the two stopped to thank me, as
they passed from the room, I felt like a criminal. Still, they looked
very charming; and, after all, a frock on the back is worth a score at
the dressmaker's.
"I am going," said Berry, "to suspend my courtship and smoke a
cigarette. Possibly I'm going too strong. If I give the lady a rest,
she may think more of me."
"I suppose," said Daphne, "you're bent on losing it all."
Her husband frowned.
"Fortune favours the bold," he said shortly. "You see, she's just
proving me. If I were to falter, she'd turn me down."
It was impossible not to admire such confidence.
I bade my sister take heart.
"Much," I concluded, "may be done with forty pounds."
"Fifty," corrected Berry. "And now let's change the subject. How
d'you pronounce Lwow? Or would you rather tell me a fairy tale?"
I shook my head.
"My power," I said, "of concentration is limited."
"Then I must," said Berry. "It's fatal to brood over your fortune."
He sat back in his chair and let the smoke make its own way out of his
mouth. "There was once a large king. It wasn't his fault. The girth
went with the crown. All the Koppabottemburgs were enormous. Besides,
it went very well with his subjects. Looking upon him, they felt they
were getting their money's worth. A man of simple tastes, his
favourite hobby was fowls.
"One day, just as he'd finished cleaning out the fowl-house, he found
that he'd run out of maize. So he slipped on his invisible cloak and
ran round to the grocer's. He always wore his invisible cloak when
shopping. He found it cheaper.
"Well, the grocer was just recovering from the spectacle of two pounds
of the best maize shoving themselves into a brown-paper bag and pushing
off down the High Street, when a witch came in. The grocer's heart
sank into his boots. He hated witches. If you weren't civil, before
you knew where you were, you were a three-legged toad or a dew-pond or
something. So you had to be civil. As for their custom--well, it
wasn't worth having. They wouldn't look at bacon, unless you'd
guarantee that the pig had been killed on a moonless Friday with the
wind in the North, and as for pulled figs, if you couldn't swear that
the box had been crossed by a one-eyed man whose father had committed
arson in a pair of brown boots, you could go and bury them under the
lilacs.
"This time, however, the grocer was pleasantly surprised.
"I didn't know," said the witch, "that you were under the patronage of
Royalty."
"Oh, didn't you?" said the grocer. "Why, the Master of the Horse has
got his hoof-oil here for nearly two days now."
"Master of the Horse be snookered," said the witch. "I'm talking about
the king."
"'The K-King?'" stammered the grocer.
"'Oh, cut it out,' said the witch, to whom an invisible cloak meant
nothing. 'No doubt you've been told to keep quiet, but I don't count.
And I'll bet you did the old fool over his maize.'
"The grocer's brain worked very rapidly. The memory of a tin of mixed
biscuits and half a Dutch cheese, which had floated out of his shop
only the day before, and numerous other recollections of mysteriously
animated provisions came swarming into his mind. At length--
"'We never charge Royalty,' he said loftily.
"'Oh, don't you?' snapped the witch. 'Well, supposing you change this
broomstick. You swore blue it was cut on a rainless Tuesday from an
ash that had supported a murderer with a false nose. The very first
time I used it, it broke at six thousand feet. I was over the sea at
the time, and had to glide nearly four miles to make a landing. Can
you b-beat it?'
"When the grocer put up his shutters two hectic hours later, he was a
weary man. In the interval he had been respectively a toad, a picture
post-card, and a tin of baked beans. And somebody had knocked him off
the counter during his third metamorphosis, so he felt like death. All
the same, before going to bed, he sat down and wrote to the Lord
Chamberlain, asking for permission to display the Royal Arms. Just to
make it quite clear that he wasn't relying on hoof-oil, he added that
he was shortly expecting a fine consignment of maize and other
commodities.
"The postscript settled it.
"The permission was granted, the king 'dealt' elsewhere in future, and
the witch was given three hours to leave the kingdom. So the grocer
lost his two worst customers and got the advertisement of his life.
Which goes to show, my children, that if only---- Hullo! Here's a new
shift."
It was true.
The eight croupiers were going off duty. As they vacated their seats,
eight other gentlemen in black immediately replaced them.
Berry extinguished his cigarette and handed me his last bunch of notes.
In exchange for these, with the peculiar delicacy of his kind, the
croupier upon my right selected, arrayed and offered me counters of the
value of forty English pounds.
He might have been spared his pains.
As I was piling the money by Berry's side--
"_Zero,_" announced a nasal voice.
"We're off," said my brother-in-law. "Will you see that they pay me
right?"
One hundred and seventy-five pounds.
Ere I had completed my calculation--
"_Zero,_" repeated the nasal voice.
"I said so," said Berry, raising his eyebrows. "I had the maximum that
time. Will you be so good? Thank you."
Trembling with excitement, I started to count the equivalent of four
hundred and ninety pounds.
Berry was addressing the croupier.
"No. Don't touch the stake. She's not finished yet."
"_Esta hecho?_"
"Don't leave it all," begged Daphne. "Take----"
"_No vas mas._"
Desperately I started to check the money again....
"_Zero._"
There was a long gasp of wonderment, immediately followed by a buzz of
exclamation. The croupiers were smiling. Jill was jumping up and down
in her seat. Adèle was shaking Jonah by the arm. My sister was
clinging to Berry, imploring him to "stop now." The two Frenchmen were
laughing and nodding their congratulations. The little old lady was
bowing and beaming good-will. Excepting, perhaps, the croupiers.
Berry seemed less concerned than anyone present.
"No. I'm not going to stop," he said gently, "because that would be
foolish. But I'll give it a miss this time, because it's not coming
up. It's no longer a question of guessing, dear. I tell you, I know."
The ball went flying.
After a moment's interval--
"_Ocho_ (eight)," announced the croupier.
"You see," said Berry. "I should have lost my money. Now this time my
old friend Zero will come along."
On to the white-edged rectangle went fourteen pounds.
A few seconds later I was receiving four hundred and ninety....
I began to feel dazed. As for counting the money, it was out of the
question. Idiotically I began to arrange the counters in little
piles....
'35' turned up.
"That's right," said Berry quietly. "And now... It's really very
monotonous, but..."
With a shrug of his shoulders, he set the limit on 'Zero.'
I held my breath....
The ball ceased to rattle--began to fall--ricochetted from stud to
stud--tumbled into the wheel--nosed '32'--and ... fell with a click
into '0.'
Berry spread out his hands.
"I tell you," he said, "it's too easy.... And now, again."
"Don't!" cried Daphne. "Don't! I beg you----"
"My darling," said Berry, "after to-night--No. Leave the stake,
please--I'll never play again. This evening--well, the money's there,
and we may as well have it, mayn't we? I mean, it isn't as if I hadn't
been given the tip. From the moment I woke this morning---- Listen,
dear. Don't bother about the wheel--the lady's been hammering away.
You must admit, she's done the job thoroughly. First the intuition:
then the wherewithal: then, what to back. I should be a bottle-nosed
mug if I didn't----"
"_Zero._"
Upon the explosion of excitement which greeted the astounding event,
patrons of the Baccarat Table and of the other Roulette Wheel left
their seats and came crowding open-mouthed to see what was toward.
Complete strangers were chattering like old friends. Gibbering with
emotion, the Spanish Jew was dramatically recounting what had occurred.
The Dutchman was sitting back, laughing boisterously. The Frenchmen
were waving and crying, "_Vive l'Angleterre_." Jonah was shouting as
though he had been in the hunting field. Adèle and Jill were beating
upon the table.
Berry bowed his acknowledgments.
As in a dream, I watched them send for more money.
When it arrived, they gave me four hundred and ninety pounds.
"_Hagan juego, Señores._"
Berry shook his head.
"Not this time," he said quietly.
He was right. After a look at '0' the ball ran with a click into '15.'
A long sigh of relief followed its settlement.
"You see?" said Berry, picking up fourteen pounds....
"Don't," I said weakly. "Don't. I can't bear it. The board's
bewitched. If it turns up again, I shall collapse."
"You mean that?" said Berry, putting the money on.
"_No va mas._"
"I do. My heart----"
"Then say your prayers," said my brother-in-law. "For, as I live, that
ball's going to pick out----"
"_Zero._"
I never remember such a scene.
Everybody in the room seemed to be shouting. I know I was.
Respectable Spaniards stamped upon the floor like bulls. The
Frenchmen, who with Berry and several others had backed the winner,
were clasping one another and singing the Marseillaise. The
beautifully dressed American was wringing Adèle's hand. The old
gentleman in the blue suit was on his feet and appeared to be making a
speech. The Spanish girl was standing upon her chair waving a
handkerchief....
In vain the smiling croupiers appealed for order....
As the tumult subsided--
"Seven times in ten spins," said Berry. "Well, I think that'll do.
We'll just run up the board on the even chances...."
There was no holding him.
Before I knew where I was, he had set twelve thousand pesetas apiece on
'RED,' 'ODD,' and 'UNDER 19.'
Some fourteen hundred pounds on a single spin.
I covered my eyes ...
As the ball began to lose way, the hush was awful....
"_Siete_ (seven)," announced the spokesman.
With my brain whirling, I sought to garner the harvest....
My brother-in-law rose to his feet.
"One last throw," he said. "'_PASSE_' for 'The Poor.'"
He leaned forward and put the maximum on 'OVER 18.'
A moment later, counter by counter, four hundred and seventy pounds
went into the poor-box.
As I pushed back my chair, I glanced at my watch.
In exactly sixteen minutes Berry had stung 'the Bank' to the tune
of--as near as I could make it--four thousand nine hundred and
ninety-five pounds.
* * * * *
Some ten hours later we slipped out of San Sebastian and on to the
famous road which leads to Biarritz. Berry, Daphne, and Jill were in
one car, and Adèle and I were in the other. Jonah and Zed were to
travel together by train. It was improbable that they would leave for
Pau before the morrow.
As we climbed out of Behobie, we took our last look at Spain, that
realm of majestic distances and superb backgrounds....
You may peer into the face of France and find it lovely; the more you
magnify an English landscape, the richer it will become; but to find
the whole beauty of Spain, a man must stand back and lift up his eyes.
Now that we had left it behind, the pride and grandeur of the scenery
beggared description. It was as though for days we had been looking
upon a mighty canvas, and while we had caught something of its
splendour, now for the first time had we focussed it aright. The
memory we took away was that of a masterpiece.
Anxious to be home in time for luncheon, I laid hold of the wheel....
We whipped through St. Jean de Luz, sang through Bidart, and hobbled
over a fearful stretch of metalling into Bayonne....
As we were nearing Bidache--
"How much," said Adèle suddenly, "is Berry actually up?"
"Allowing for everything," said I, "that is, his losses, what he gave
to the poor, and the various rates of exchange, about two hundred and
forty thousand francs."
"Not so dusty," said Adèle thoughtfully. "All the same----"
A report like that of a gun blew the sentence to blazes.
Heavily I took the car in to the side of the road....
A second tire went upon the outskirts of Pau.
Happily we had two spare wheels....
As I was wearily resuming my seat, Berry, Daphne, and Jill went by with
a cheer.
Slowly we followed them into the town....
It was not until we were stealing up our own villa's drive that at
length I remembered the question which for over an hour I had been
meaning to put to my wife.
As I brought the car to a standstill--
"What was it," I demanded, "that you had begun to say when we had the
first burst near Bidache? We were talking about how much Berry was up,
and you said----"
The most blood-curdling yell that I have ever heard fell upon our ears.
For a moment we stared at one another.
Then we fell out of the car by opposite doors and flew up the steps....
Extended upon a chair in the hall. Berry was bellowing, clawing at his
temples and drumming with his heels upon the floor.
Huddled together, Daphne and Jill were poring over a letter with
starting eyes.
_DEAR SIR,_
_In case the fact has not already come to your notice, we hasten to
inform you that as a result of the drawing, which took place on Monday
last, one of the Premium Bonds, which we yesterday dispatched to you
per registered post, has won the first prize of fr. 500,000 (five
hundred thousand francs)._
_By way of confirmation, we beg to enclose a cutting from the official
Bulletin._
_We should, perhaps, point out that, in all announcements of the
results of drawings, the '0' or 'zero,' which for some reason
invariably precedes the number of a Premium Bond, is disregarded._
_Awaiting the pleasure of your instructions,_
_We beg to remain, dear sir,
Your obedient servants,_
----------
* * * * *
It was perhaps five hours later that my memory again responded, and I
turned to Adèle.
"The dam burst," said I, "at the very moment when you were going to
tell me what you had been about to say when the first tire went outside
Bidache. Sounds like 'The House that Jack built,' doesn't it?"
"Oh, I know," said Adèle, laughing. "But it's no good now. I was
going to say----"
The door opened, and Falcon came in with a wire.
I picked up the form and weighed it thoughtfully.
"Wonderfully quick," I said. "It was half-past two when I was at the
Bank, and I couldn't have been at the Post Office before a quarter to
three. I looked at my watch. Just under four hours."
"The Bank?" said Adèle, staring. "But you said you were going to the
Club."
I nodded.
"I know. I was anxious to raise no false hopes. All the same, I
couldn't help feeling that half a million francs were worth a tenpenny
wire. Therefore I telegraphed to Jonah. His answer will show whether
that tenpenny wire was worth half a million francs."
My wife snatched the form from my hand and tore it open.
It was very short.
_Bonds repurchased Jonah._
* * * * *
But my memory never recovered from the two-fold slight.
To this day I cannot remember to ask Adèle what it was that she had
been about to say when the first tire burst outside Bidache.