"But he accuses you of cheating!" I exclaimed.
"Oh, I cheated all right!" Mr. Bundercombe admitted readily.
Captain Bannister turned toward me triumphantly.
"After that confession from Mr. Bundercombe before witnesses," he said, "I
do not imagine that our case will require very much more proof."
I was completely nonplussed--Mr. Bundercombe's confession was so ready,
his demeanor so unalterably good-tempered. I went on to ask, however, what
certainly seemed to me the most important question under the
circumstances.
"If you were content, Captain Bannister," I inquired, "to let the matter
drop a few months ago, why are you here now?"
"Aha!" Mr. Bundercombe exclaimed. "Put his finger on the crux of the whole
affair straight off! Smart young fellow, my son-in-law that is to be! Now,
then, Captain Bannister and Mr. Cheape, speak up like men and let us know
the truth. You let me walk out of that flat, Captain Bannister, and were
jolly glad to see the back of me. Why this visit with a legal adviser, and
both of you with faces as long as fiddles?"
Captain Bannister ignored Mr. Bundercombe and addressed me.
"Mr. Bundercombe," he said, "calling himself, by the by, Mr. Parker, as an
American card sharper was of no interest to us.
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