Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-03-06
babe him good night and strolled

l babe him good night and strolled
on.
1t was two days later that the first
Clipp scandal, not the great one, oc-
Cured; and it was at Scruton's. Clipp
was there again. playing away; and
took it that he had come after his
eighteen pounds. hoped he would not
recover them.
| ] did not see anything of his play
during the earlier part of the evening,
, though l noticed that his hay fever
made him perfect nuisance with his
shifting and sneezing to the people near
him. l was busy talking to Alice after
| little trouble with that hulking brute
Sir Theobald Walsh. He tried to mon
opolize her; and tried to too = | did
1t. / think she rather enjoyed having
us snap at each other about her: and
it was very natural pretty girl does.
| When she went to bed, l went to the
card table, sat down and punted gently.
Nugget was still shifting and sneez-
ing away and presently he croaked that
he would take the bank: and he took It,
The luck had been against it most Of
the evening; but now it turned. Mug
get began to win, and he went on win
ming. Soon, too, most Of the men were
betting heavily, more heavily than
usual, all Of them were burning to
take it out of Nugget Nugget made
them worse; he had nasty sneering
chuckle when heNwon that would have
aggravated a saint into stalking his last
farthing. He did not aggravate me; for
could not see myself letting the dear,
old whiskered chap have my money 7
went on\punting gently - just enough
to give ME an interest in the game and
no more.
The bank had won about six thons-
and when LIE Quesne, who sat opposite
to me gave. he half wink and shook
his head What LIE Quesne doesn't
know about cards Is not worth know
ing. took it as notice to stop; and
! stopped. lie Quesne got up, went TO
the side table and poured himself out
brandy and soda. Joined him and
did the same.
81 say Garthoyle. did 1t ever strike
you that Nugget wasn't on the squares?
he sai6 in low.voice.
"No-I don't know. l never thought
about it, OF course he's desperately
mean" said
Yes; that's what should have said
Just mean" said LIE Quesne.
"Aand mean men don't often stay on
the square," said. But why? What's
the NATTER"
81 swear that saw his fingers
seeing fingers twinkle as most men, for
I've played in queer COMPANY oftener
than most. Of course, l may be wrong.
Perhaps it's liver
He walked across the room looked
at the whites of his eyes in mirror
and came back to me.
You must be wrong" said. cts
nonsense to suppose that Nugget has
suddenly blossomed into card sharp
er. Why, it takes year of practise"
"It does. But after all, none of us
knows how Nugget spends his time. He
doesn't hunt: he doesn't shoot: he
doesn't even play golf: and he never
goes racing. OF course, he collects
things china and SO On - but that
doesn't take up much of mans time.
He may have been spending two or
three hours day for year, preparing
this little treat for u.s."
"He must spend a deuce Of q lot of
his time saving money" said L.
HE may have been spending it get
ting ready to earn little off u.s. said
lie Quesne. "Come along and have a
look yourself You may see something.
and you may not. 1t takes practised
eye. Every year for month hire a
conjurer to do card tricks before me
for an hour every day = just to keep
my eyes bright"
"Then you ought to be able to see
fingers twinkle said; and we went
back to the table.
confined myself to betting an occa-
sional sovereign and watched with all
my eyes. The bank went on winning:
but ! saw nothing. When it had won
about nine thousand, the seasoned
punters seemed to make up their
minds at about the same time that they
were up against phenomenal run, and
they dropped out as far. that IS, az
serious betting went Two or three Of
the younger men went on merrilN and
of course, the piebald duke plunged
steadily away. Nugget shifted and
sneezed, and staggered and sneered.
and won and Won The duke dropped
seemed TO have had enough for the
evening. ne StOppeu ana 'He game
petered out. Nugget had won nearly
twelve thousand on one bank.
He was gathering up the last lot OF
notes. and everybody was talking
cursing their luck chiefly; Nugget had
sneezing fit and I saw lie Quesne
slide dozen cards off the table with
his left hand and slip them into his
trousers pocket. We broke up, discuss.
ing the banks run.
tTo Be Continued.)