Since he has sent for me, however, I presume that I am to be
informed."
"Quite so--quite so!" Mr. Bundercombe murmured. "You go ahead, Captain
Bannister. You tell your story."
"My story," Captain Bannister said, "is told in a very few words. I made
the acquaintance of Mr. Bundercombe in the smoking room at the Milan some
months ago. We met several times; and on one occasion I presented him to a
friend of mine, the widow of a colonel in the Indian Army, Mrs.
Delaporte."
At this stage, Mr. Bundercombe, who was quite irrepressible, winked at me
slowly. I took no notice of him whatever.
"On the particular evening to which I refer," Captain Bannister continued,
"it was suggested, by Mrs. Delaporte, I think, that we should go round to
her rooms and play _chemin de fer_. There were five of us altogether--Mr.
Bundercombe, Mrs. Delaporte, myself, a Mr. Dimsdale, and the Honorable
Montague Pelham, a young gentleman of the best family. When we arrived at
Mrs. Delaporte's rooms, however, it transpired that Mr. Bundercombe was
wholly ignorant of _chemin de fer_, and the game was accordingly changed
to poker.
"In the course of the game I was shocked to detect Mr. Bundercombe
cheating. For Mrs. Delaporte's sake I conceived it best to try and hush up
the matter entirely.
Pages:
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225