Shall I play something
for you, Mrs. Macdonald?"
He turned as he spoke and would have edged away, but that one of the
men at a glance from the girl laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't be in a hurry, Ferris. I fancy Miss Barrington has something
more to tell you," he said dryly.
The girl thanked him with a gesture. "I want you to supply the most
important part," she said, and the lad, saying nothing, changed color
under the glance she cast upon him. "You do not seem willing. Then
perhaps I had better do it for you. There were two men from Silverdale
directly concerned in the affair, and one of them at no slight risk to
himself did a very generous thing. That one was Mr. Courthorne. Did
you see him lay a single stake upon a card, or do anything that led you
to suppose he was there for the purpose of gambling that evening?"
"No," said the lad, seeing she knew the truth, and his hoarse voice was
scarcely audible.
"Then," said Maud Barrington, "I want you to tell us what you did see
him do."
Ferris said nothing, and though the girl laughed a little as she
glanced at the wondering group, her voice was icily disdainful.
"Well," she said, "I will tell you. You saw him question a
professional gambler's play to save a man who had no claim on him from
ruin, and, with only one comrade to back him, drive the swindler, who
had a pistol, from the field. He had, you admit, no interest of any
kind in the game."
Ferris had grown crimson again, and the veins on his forehead showed
swollen high.
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