A maker of nations

Front matter

OF THE

U N I VLR5 ITY or ILLINOIS

OF THE

CHAPTER I. “T ACCUSE Monsieur of cheating!”

A A moment before the room had been a Babel of voices ; now there descended upon it a sudden silence that was more the outcome of polite curiosity than of any real interest in what was going forward. As a matter of fact, no one seemed quite to realise what had happened. The tall, good-looking Greek, talking with the bullet-headed Russian near the fireplace at the end of the first room, paused in his whispered description of the profitable, but somewhat illicit, business in which of late he had been engaged on the coast of Arabia, and glanced languidly in the direction whence the voices proceeded ; while the voluble little Frenchman, playing 6carte in the alcove with an elderly compatriot, paused with a card in his hand, looked round over his shoulder, and then

A Maker of Nations.

continued his game, marking the King as a memento of the occasion, and as a warning against the folly of inordinate curiosity.

“ I repeat, I accuse Monsieur of cheating. The pack we are using is a marked one ; let Monsieur disprove it if he can.”

This time his voice penetrated even into the further room where the roulette tables were located, and the crowd, numbering between twenty and thirty persons of both sexes, immediately abandoned its game and hastened in, in order to discover the reason of the excitement. It is possible that half the nations of Europe were represented there. What was more to the point, the apathy which had characterised the people a few moments before had now vanished, and its place was taken by an interest which, it must be confessed, had in it a considerable savour of cruelty. Someone was about to be made unhappy, and they were afraid lest they might be too late for the sensation. Bankrupt in the majority of emotions as they were, the pleasure of being able to enjoy suffering in others still remained with them.

The group at the table where the trouble had originated was in many respects a singular one. There were four players, and each presented peculiaiities of his own. Seated with his back to the wall was the young man against whom the accusation of cheating had been preferred. He was an Englishman, slimly built, and possessed of a weak though by no means unhandsome face. His age could scarcely have been more than five-and-twenty, possibly it was not so much. His countenance at the moment was white with fear ; and several of the bystanders noticed that his hand, in which certain cards still remained, trembled as it rested upon the table. Standing opposite him, his chair overturned upon the floor, was his accuser, an individual whose nationality at first glance was by no means easy to determine; on his left was another Frenchman, a dapper little person wearing many rings, a turquoise stud, and who boasted a faint resemblance to the third Napoleon. The person on his right, lolling back in his chair, and regarding the ceiling with a contemplative air, as if he were trying to discover what it was in human nature that induced people to waste their time in quarrelling with each other, when they might be so much better employed, was the man with whom this story is very considerably, if not most importantly, concerned, and whom it is necessary, for that reason, I should delo A Maker of Nations.

scribe to you at greater length. Like the unfortunate youth on his left, he also was an Englishman, a fact which would have been apparent to the least observant. Though he was seated, it could be plainly seen that he was taller than the average Briton; he was pleasant-looking more than good-looking, his hair was crisp and curly, and he boasted honest brown eyes that looked full and fair into one’s own, and at the same time permitted you to understand that their possessor was a man who not only liked his own way, but usually managed to get it. Indeed, everything about him, the shape of his forehead, the moulding of his chin, and even the set of his firm white teeth, which could occasionally be seen peeping out from beneath his moustache, bespoke him a man of determination.

“ I accuse Monsieur of cheating,” said the man on the opposite side of the table for the third time ; and as he said it he picked up the cards that had already been played, and spread them out in the shape of a fan before him. The wretched youth endeavoured to protest his innocence ; it was useless, however, his voice died in his throat. Anxious as he might be to deny the accusation, his own face condemned him, and not one of the

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II bystanders believed in him for a moment. Suddenly there was a stir in the crowd, and the pompous little Greek, the proprietor of the rooms, pushed his way through and approached the table.

“ Gentlemen, gentlemen,” he cried, wringing his hands. “ What does this mean ? I implore you not to quarrel. The authorities are none too well disposed towards me as it is, and if you attract their attention now I shall be ruined.”

In his excitement he placed his hand on the arm of the man who had brought the accusation. The other threw him off with an angry gesture —

“ To the devil with you, Polyannetis,” he cried in French. “ What do you mean by interrupting me? Haven’t I told you that Monsieur opposite has cheated ? ”

As he spoke he stooped over the greenclothed table and drew the cards towards him.

“You were clever enough at this sort of thing once,” he continued. “Examine these cards for yourself, and tell me whether they are those you provide for the use of your guests ?

Nothing could have been fairer, but it was plain that the proprietor of the rooms did not regard the proposal with much favour. He would be compelled to decide in favour of one or the other, and by so doing he must of necessity offend a patron. The young Englishman had spent a considerable amount of money with him during the last few days, and might still have something left, while the other was a person of whom he stood in considerable awe. However, for the reason that there was no other way out of it, he reluctantly did as he was requested. Accordingly he turned the cards this way and that, held them up to the light, and tested them in the most approved fashion. The scrutiny, however, was scarcely necessary ; the truth of the charge which had been brought against the younger man was only too evident. Eeluctant though he might be to admit it, there was no gainsaying the fact that the other had cheated. The unfortunate young fellow’s complexion by this time was of a deathly pallor. He gasped for breath, and it looked as though at any moment he might fall from his chair in a faint. Already an ominous murmur was running through the room. People who, provided they are not found out, are only too eager themselves to cheat, are invariably the most ready to punish those who have the

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misfortune, or the stupidity, to be discovered. It was plain that he could hope but for small mercy from anyone there.

“ What have you to say for yourself. Monsieur ? ” Polyannetis began in a tone which suggested that he had good reason to find fault with the young man for disturbing the tranquillity of an otherwise well-ordered establishment.

The young man offered no reply.

“ Turn him out ! ” cried a voice from behind. “We want no cheats here.”

On hearing this, two muscular attendants hastened forward for the purpose of executing the threat proposed. On seeing them, the second Englishman, who up to this time had appeared to take little or no interest in what was going forward, rose from his chair and turned towards the man who had brought the accusation.

“ This has gone far enough, Monsieur le Vicomte,” he said. “ I give you my word you are accusing this gentleman unjustly.”

“ Unjustly ? ” cried the other with genuine surprise. “What do you mean? Have I not said that Monsieur substituted this pack for that with which Polyannetis furnished us ? ”

A Maker of Nations.

“ I am quite aware of that,” said the Englishman coolly. “ But you are wrong.” “ What do you mean ? ”

“ What I say ! You have declared that this gentleman has cheated.”

“ And has he not ? ”

“ Why should you say that ? ”

“ Because I have the best of proofs. You can examine the cards for yourself.”

“ The cards prove nothing. How do you know that it was he who substituted them? ” The Vicomte laughed scornfully.

“ Ma foi, Monsieur, your defence astonishes me. If he did not, who did ? ”

“ I did ! ”

Had a thunderbolt crashed through the roof and fallen to the middle of the floor it could scarcely have caused greater surprise than did this speech. Each man looked at his neighbour as if he were scarcely able to believe that he had heard aright. Was it possible that Dick Durrington, the most notorious gambler and the finest pistol shot in Europe, was prepared to acknowledge that he had cheated at cards ? The very idea of such a thing was preposterous. And yet he had said it, and, as he very well knew, there was no one in the room, or in Cairo for that matter, who would dare to contradict or to hold him accountable for his words. Of course, he had not really done it, everyone felt sure of that, but why had he thus committed himself ? He had not played with the younger man until that night, and they were not even acquaintances. This was what puzzled them, and the Vicomte de Vernier was more puzzled than all the rest put together.

“ Monsieur Durrington,” he began, after the short pause which followed the other’s announcement, “ will forgive me, I hope, if I say that I scarcely catch his meaning ! Am I to understand that he deliberately confesses that he has cheated ? ”

“ You may understand what you please,” the other replied imperturbably. “ What I want you to remember is, that if the ownership of these cards is to be called in question, I am prepared to account for them.”

There was another awkward pause, during which the spectators watched the two men, as if they were wondering what the next step in this extraordinary drama would be.

Meanwhile the young man at the further end of the table was slowly recovering his self-possession. He had found an unexpected ally, and in a totally unexpected quarter.

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“ There is a mystery somewhere,” said the Yicomte with a still more puzzled air. “ I cannot believe that Monsieur is prepared to confess himself a cheat.”

“ As I have said, you may believe what you please,” Durrington returned coolly. “ If you feel aggrieved, I shall be most happy to do the right thing when and where you please. You know my address, I fancy, if not ”

He took a card from his pocket and laid it upon the green-topped table. Then turning to the young man on his left he said, “ Come, sir, it is time we thought of getting home. If you will give me your company for a short distance, I shall be obliged.”

The old pallor returned to the young man’s face; from Durrington’s speech it was plain that he was not to go scot free after all. However, he rose as he was ordered, and followed the other across the room to the hall outside, where a servant brought their cloaks. When they had donned them they passed down the steps.

It was a beautiful night. Overhead the stars shone with Oriental brilliance, and a soft wind from the Nile sighed softly among the orange trees in the garden. It was the first week in December, and the Cairene winter season might therefore be said to have fairly commenced. As Durrington and his companion made their way into the street, an aradheyah passed them, conveying some guests from the British Consul- General’s reception back to their hotel. Durrington smiled grimly as the laughing voices of the ladies reached his ears. By dint of much perseverance he had acquired the habit of telling himself that he did not regret his loss of caste, that he was just as happy as he had ever been, and that nothing mattered so long as he had his life, and the health and strength to enjoy it. And yet, do what he would that night, the voices of those laughing girls in the carriage recurred to his memory again and again, long after the cab had turned down a side street and passed out of his life for ever. Possibly this may have been why they walked for upwards of a hundred yards without a word passing between them. Indeed, they had left the thoroughfare in which the French gaming house was situated, and had entered the Sharia Kamel Pacha before Durrington referred to the incident which had brought them together. Then, placing his hand on the young man’s arm, he said : “I wonder if it has struck you, my young friend, that you got ofl rather cheaply just now ? ”

The other hesitated before he replied. While he felt quite certain that his companion was fully aware of his guilt, some lingering touch of caution, or it may have been vanity, prevented him from making any confession until he was directly accused. At the same time he was aware that he owed a debt of gratitude, which he could never repay, to the man standing beside him. But for his generous interference and the fact that he had so opportunely taken the blame upon himself, there was no knowing what the end of it all might not have been. Durrington noticed his hesitation, and with the quick eye of a man who has made the human face his study, appreciated it correctly. A smile that was almost one of contemptuous pity flitted across his face. Educated by the world as he had been in its roughest and most dangerous school, he was able to read what was passing in the youth’s mind as if it had been a book laid open before him.

“ I hope you will believe that I am very grateful to you,” the young man said diffidently. “ It was awfully good of you to get me out of that scrape as you did.”

Then with an ingenuousness that was ahnost pathetic, he added: “These foreign gaminghouses are the very deuce and all, unless you know the ropes.”

“ I agree with you,” said Durrington grimly. “ You do require to know the ropes. And what is more, you require to be very careful how you pull those ropes when you are familiar with them. Things happen even in Cairo, of which society in general and the consuls in particular, know little or nothing. If I were you, I should make it a rule not to touch a card until I got back to London. If, however, you must play, be careful that you use only the orthodox implements. Little mistakes like that of to-night are apt, at times, to entail unpleasant results.”

The youth was silent for a few moments. He was even more convinced than before that he was behaving ungenerously, and yet he did not quite see how he could alter matters.

“ Look here,” he faltered at last, “ I know you must think me a beast for doing what I did, but — but — you don’t know how I was drawn into it. You don’t think you’ll be getting into any sort of a hole yourself over this business, do you ? That Hrench chap

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is a bad hat, I should say, and I shouldn’t like you to get into any trouble with him when it’s all my fault. Do you see ? ” “You need not allow yourself to be disturbed on that score,” said Durrington calmly. “ I am quite able to take care of myself. Besides, if I know anything of our friend the Vicomte, he won’t fight. Were I in your shoes, however, I should not cultivate his acquaintance for a week or two.”

“You think, then, that he will remember what has happened this evening ? ”

“Well, it’s not exactly the sort of thing one would be likely to forget,” answered Durrington. “ Do you think it is ? ”

This time there was no shirking the question. They were underneath a lamp-post, and the two men looked each other firmly and squarely in the face, and it was the younger man’s eyes that dropped first.

“ I am a cad,” he replied, “ and I deserved to be kicked out of the place to-night. I know that, but ”

“But the result has not quite justified the cleverness of the original idea,” said Durrington. “ I understand exactly. I shouldn’t do it again, that’s all.”

“ I give you my word I won’t. But still

I want you to understand how grateful I am to you.”

“ Don’t trouble yourself about that,” said the other for the second time. “ If I wanted to moralise, which isn’t in my line, I might preach you a sermon that would be to the point. I will spare you, however. Our paths separate here, I think? You are staying at the Oriental, are you not ? ”

“ How did you know that ? ” his astonished companion inquired, for he had never seen or heard of Durrington until that evening.

“It is my business to know a good many things,” said Durrington. “ And now, good-night.”

“ Good-night,” the younger man replied. “ If my governor only knew what you’ve done for me to-night, I wonder whether he would be glad or sorry ? ”

“You should know best,” Durrington replied ; and then, ignoring the hand held out to him, and speaking with an abruptness he had not used before, he bade the other “ good-night,” and went quickly down the pavement.

“What a fool I am!” he said viciously to himself as he walked along. “ Try how I will, I seem never to be able to fors'et.

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I suppose it was the young idiot’s face that brought it back to me so clearly. And a nice little scrape I’ve got myself into if Vernier turns nasty. Of course, they’ll never believe that I had a hand in the business, but they’ll be certain to suspect I’ve some game on. They know Dick Durrington too well to suppose he’d allow his feelings to run away with him so far as to permit himself to be charged with a clumsy bit of business like that, unless he had a good and sufficient reason at the back of it all ! Heaven, what recollections that young fellow’s face brought back to me ! I seemed to see her ”

At this moment there crept out of the heavier shadow of the houses one of those terrible beings who haunt the darkness of every semi-European, semi-Asiatic city. He approached Durrington, imploring charity in the name of God. Keeping pace with him, he whined for help, for money, for anything that would save him from his present misery. He was an Englishman, he said, and had once been a Queen’s officer. Durrington repulsed him savagely, but the other was not to be denied. Then a light fell upon his face, and he saw to whom it was he had appealed. He followed no further.

He knew that neither threats nor entreaties would avail him there.

Beaching his lodgings, Durrington let himself in and made his way past the sleeping servants in the corridor to his bedroom on the first floor. Once there he stood and regarded himself steadfastly in the cheap French mirror hanging upon the wall.

“ I never knew that it was so difficult to forget,” he said. “One chance likeness, and all the past comes back to me. I thought I had forgotten her, and that I had ever been anything but what I am — an outcast, who was once a gentleman 1 ”