"Yes."
"Begging, I suppose?"
"He borrowed some money for his friend Barrymaine."
The Viscount flushed hotly, and looked at Barnabas with a sudden
frown.
"Perhaps you are unaware, that is a name I never allow spoken in my
presence, Mr. Beverley."
"Indeed, Viscount, and pray, why not?"
"For one thing, because he is--what he is--"
"Lady Cleone's brother."
"Half-brother, sir, and none the less a--knave."
"How--?"
"I mean that he is a card-sharper, a common cheat."
"Her brother--?"
"Half-brother!"
"A cheat! Are you sure?"
"Certain! I had the misfortune to make the discovery. And it killed
him in London, all the clubs shut their doors upon him of course, he
was cut in the streets,--it is damning to be seen in his company or
even to mention his name--now."
"And you--you exposed him?"
"I said I made the discovery; but I kept it to myself. The stakes
were unusually high that night, and we played late. I went home with
him, but Chichester was there, waiting for him. So I took him aside,
and, in as friendly a spirit as I could, told him of my discovery.
He broke down, and, never attempting a denial, offered restitution
and promised amendment. I gave my word to keep silent and, on one
pretext or another, the loser's money was returned. But next week,
the whole town hummed with the news. One night--it was at
White's--he confronted me, and--he gave me--the lie!" The Viscount's
fists were tight clenched, and he stared down blindly at the floor.
"And, sir, though you'll scarcely credit it of course, I--there,
before them all--I took it."
"Of course," said Barnabas, "for Her sake."
"Beverley!" exclaimed the Viscount, looking up with a sudden light
in his eyes. "Oh, Bev!" and their hands met and gripped.
"You couldn't do anything else, Dick."
"No, Bev, no, but I'm glad you understand. Later it got about that
I--that I was--afraid of the fellow--he's a dead shot, they say,
young as he is--and--well, it--it wasn't pleasant, Bev. Indeed it
got worse until I called out one of Chichester's friends, and winged
him--a fellow named Dalton."
"I think I've seen him," said Barnabas, nodding.
"Anyhow, Barrymaine was utterly discredited and done for--he's an
outcast, and to be seen with him, or his friends, is to be damned
also."
"And yet," said Barnabas, sighing and shaking his head, "I must call
upon him to-morrow."
"Call upon him! Man--are you mad?"
"No; but he is her brother, and--"
"And, as I tell you, he is banned by society as a cheat!"
"And is that so great a sin, Dick?"
"Are there any--worse?"
"Oh, yes; one might kill a man in a duel, or dishonor a trusting
woman, or blast a man's character; indeed it seems to me that there
are many greater sins!"