A Mysterious Disappearance Part 15

"It is well," he said to the guard. "Here is a louis. Say nothing, but leave us."

"Monsieur understands that the honor of a French policeman--"

"I understand that if there is any report made of this affair to the authorities you will be dismissed for negligence. Had this lunatic been left to your care he would now have been lying here dead. Do you doubt me?"

The guard hesitated. "Monsieur mentioned a louis," he said, for Bruce's finger and thumb had returned the coin to his waistcoat pocket.

This transaction satisfactorily ended, Bruce accosted Mensmore, who was awkwardly twisting himself to see if his backbone were all right.

"You are not hurt, I hope?"

"It is matterless. Why could you not let me finish the business in my own way?"

"Because the world has some use for a man like you. Because you are a moral coward, and require support from a stronger nature. Because I did not want to think of that girl crying her eyes out to-morrow when she read of your death, or heard of it, as she a.s.suredly would have done."

Mensmore, though still furious at his fellow-countryman's interference, was visibly amazed at this final reference.

"What do you know about her?" he cried.

"Nothing, save what my eyes tell me."

"They seem to tell you a remarkable lot about my affairs."

"Possibly. Meanwhile I want you to give me your word of honor that you will not make any further attempt on your life during the next seven days."

"The word of honor of a disgraced man! Will you accept it?"

"Most certainly."

"You are a queer chap, and no mistake. Very well, I give it. At the same time, I cannot help dying of starvation. I lost my last cent to-night at roulette. I am hopelessly involved in debts which I cannot pay. I have no prospects and no friends. You are not doing me a kindness, my dear fellow, in keeping me alive, even for seven days."

"You might have obtained your fare to London from the authorities of the Casino?"

"Hardly. I lost very little at roulette. I am not such a fool. My losses are nearly all in bets over the pigeon-shooting match which I ought to have won. I was backing myself at a game where I was apparently sure to succeed."

"Until you were beaten by a woman's voice."

"Yes, wizard. I am too dazed to wonder at you sufficiently. Yet I would have lost fifty times for her sake, though it was for her sake that I wanted to win."

"Come, let us smoke. Sit down, and tell me all about it."

They took the nearest seat, lighting cigarettes. The guard, watching them from the shade of a huge palm-tree, murmured:

"Holy Virgin, what madmen are these Englis.h.!.+ They move apart, unknown; they fight; they fraternize; they consume tobacco--all within five minutes."

And he lovingly felt for the louis to a.s.sure himself that he was not dreaming.

"There is not much to tell," said Mensmore, who had quite recovered his self-control, and was now trying to sum up the man who had so curiously entered his life at the moment when he had decided to do away with it.

"I came here, being a poor chap living mostly on my wits, to go in for the pigeon-shooting tournaments. I won several, and was in fair funds.

Then I fell in love. The girl is rich, well-connected, and all that sort of thing. She is the first good influence that has crossed my life, so I thought that perhaps my luck was now going to turn. I backed myself for all I was worth, and more, to win the champions.h.i.+p. If it came off I should have won over 3,000. As it is, I owe 500, which must be paid on Monday. My total a.s.sets, after I settled my hotel bill and sent a cheque to a chum who took some of my bets in his own name, was 16. Now I have nothing. So you see--"

"Yes," interrupted Bruce, "it is a hard case. But death is no settlement. n.o.body gets paid, and everybody is worried."

"My dear fellow, my life is in your keeping for seven days. After that, I presume, I take myself in charge again."

The barrister took thought for a while before he inquired:

"Why did you go to the Casino to-night, if you did not patronize the tables as a rule?"

The other colored somewhat and laughed sarcastically.

"Just a final bit of folly. I dreamt that my luck had turned."

"Dreamt?"

"Yes, last night. Three times did I imagine that I was playing roulette, and that after a certain number--whether thirteen or twenty-three I was uncertain--turned up, there was a run of seventeen on the red. The funny thing is that I had an impression that the number was twenty-three, but with a doubt that it might be thirteen. I remember, during a sub-conscious state in the third dream, resolving to listen and look more carefully to discover the exact number. But again things got blurred. The only clear point was that the run of seventeen on the red commenced at once."

"Well?"

"Well, I took my remaining cash, went to the Casino, became a bit impatient when neither number turned up for quite a while, and when thirteen appeared I backed the red. But four times it was the black that won."

"So I saw."

"Have you been keeping guard over me?"

"Yes, in a sort of way."

"You are a queer chap. I can't help saying that I am obliged to you. But it won't do any good. I am absolutely dead broke."

"Now listen to me. I will pay your fare back to London and give you something to live on until I return a week hence. Then you must come to see me, and I will help you into some sort of situation. But you must once and for all abandon this notion of suicide."

"What about my debts?"

"Confound your debts. Tell people to wait until you are able to pay them."

"And--and the girl?"

"If she is worth having she will give you a chance of making a living sufficient to enable you to marry her. She is of age, I suppose, and can marry any one she likes."

Mensmore puffed his cigarette in silence for fully a minute. Then he said:

"You are a very decent sort, Mr.--"

"Bruce--Claude Bruce is my name."

"Well, Mr. Bruce, you propose to hand me 10 for my railway fare, and, say, 5 for my existence, until we meet again in London, in exchange for which you purchase the rights in my life indefinitely, accidents and reasonable wear and tear excepted."

"Exactly!"