The Odds

ng them in her corner,

tch on. I've heard a lot of men talking about it. And I adore watching billiards. I'm s

e it's a fairly respectable crowd," he s

sleepy. Let us go in by all means if you think n

lous luck. He is playing the old manager-Harley, and giving him fifty points. There's some pretty warm betting going on, I can tell

y without further discussion. He paused outside the billiard-room door, which stood ajar; for a tense silence reigned

"What a pity! Never mind! Let's

Men who had been sitting round the walls were grouped about the table. In the midst of them stood the victor in his shirt-sleeves, conspi

head of straw-coloured hair above a neck that was burnt brick-red. Then, laug

d, white and regular like the teeth of an animal in the wilderness. He had that indescribable look of morning-time, of youth at it

k, and stood still. It was not the first

d later with a delicacy that thrilled her strangely. Full well did she remember the deftness and the stea

t voice that had once spoken to her quivering soul, pleading with her that she would at their next meeting treat

coming round the table to follow up his s

said. "There

side of the room. Dot and Adela sat down together. Hill stood beside them, l

he great figure that leaned over the table for another stroke. W

ent, that seemed to set him apart from all other men. He was standing close to her now, and the nearness

-haired man with crafty eyes that seemed to look in all directions at the

ree swing of his as of one born to conque

aid. "I'm standing drinks all

l's instant refusal sounded un

ladies," he said. "I su

table. "Unless Harley wa

us dog. "I'll have that another day," he said. "It won't spoil by kee

uld love to see a good game. You as

st each other, her eyes fixed straight before h

as full of the harsh babel of men's voi

e's to the new manager! Good luck to him! Bill

dream she heard the laughter and the shouting. It seemed to sweep around her in great billows of sound. But she was too tired to notice, too tired to care. He did not know her. She wa

etcher's voice beside he

made must be kept a secret. If Hill began to suspect, he would very quickly ferret out the truth, and the man

e him. "No, oh, no!" she said. "I am really not

c. "Love to see m

se not! You will beat him easily.

rom her. She saw him approach Wa

lass. The excitement in the room was dying down. She watched the two men with an odd brea

suddenly arose in her ears she heard Adela whisper excitedly, "My

ly impotent, and in a moment he was standing before her with Fletc

and was talking in his careless, leisurely fashion. The ordeal was past, her pulses quieted down again. Yet she realized that he had not

orced herself to join in the conversation, secondin

t Fletcher. "Do you care to

ng laugh. "Now is your chance, Mr. Hill! Down him once and

shlight had given her a sudden glimpse of this man's soul, showing her bitter enmity-a black and cruel hatre

voice. "I am quite wil

e match plainly excited Warden's many admirers. They dre

doing it for a gamble," he said, curtly. "Please ke

hey all stood in considerable awe of him-all save Warden, who chalked Hill's cue with supr

that he was a skilled player. He spoke scarcely at all, and his face was masklike in its composure, but Dot, watching, knew with that intuition which of late had begun to grow upon her that he was grimly set

sue of the game did not seem to enter into his calculation. He played like a sportsman, sometimes rashly, often brilliantly, but never s

work species of regularity that Dot found curiously pleasing to watch. She had not thought that her interes

disposed her in Fletcher's favour. She saw that he had a hard fight before him, for Warden led almost from the beginning, though wit

slow, inevitable way of his, but he neither spoke nor looked at her, and she had a feeling that his attention never for an instant wandered from the job

lso caused her a vague sense of irritation. She was begin

sight. Hill's steady progress in the wake of his opponent seemed at length to disconcert the latter. He began to play wi

end when Warden suddenly missed an easy stroke. A noisy groan broke from the onlookers, at

e fool, Warden," h

looked at him for a second with raised brows, as if h

eaten me yet,

"And I don't valu

hat there was hostility in the very atmosphere. She wondered what would happen if he scored the hundred befo

troke he executed with flawless accuracy and with scarcely a pause, moving to and fro about the table

ble, and in the shadow on the farther side of the room she again saw Harley's face, grey, withered-looking, with sunken eyes that glared forth wolfishly. He was glancing ceaseles

lifted for a second from the table. Magnetically hers flashed to meet them. It

ething had gone out of him. The stroke he attemp

h a sharp gesture and looked a

g freely expressed around the room. With the utmost steadiness he made his stroke, scoring two points. Then there fell a tremendous silence. The choice of two strokes now lay before him.

lmost to open animosity against his opponent. In the midst of the noise Hill, perfectly c

nd almost without aiming sent it at terrific speed up the table. It struck first the r

ke of which any player might have been proud. But

aid, and turned t