Had Somerset chosen this inn for his quarters instead of the one in the Market-Place which he actually did choose, the three must inevitably have met here at this moment, with some possibly striking dramatic results; though what they would have been remains for ever hidden in the darkness of the unfulfilled.
De Stancy jumped up from his chair, and went forward to the new-comer.
'You are not long behind us, then,' he said, with laconic disquietude.
'I thought you were going straight home ?' 'I was,' said Dare, 'but I have been blessed with what I may call a small competency since I saw you last.

Of the two hundred francs you gave me I risked fifty at the tables, and I have multiplied them, how many times do you think?
More than four hundred times.' De Stancy immediately looked grave.

'I wish you had lost them,' he said, with as much feeling as could be shown in a place where strangers were hovering near.
'Nonsense, captain! I have proceeded purely on a calculation of chances; and my calculations proved as true as I expected, notwithstanding a little in-and-out luck at first.

Witness this as the result.' He smacked his bag with his umbrella, and the chink of money resounded from within.
'Just feel the weight of it!' 'It is not necessary.

I take your word.' 'Shall I lend you five pounds ?' 'God forbid! As if that would repay me for what you have cost me! But come, let's get out of this place to where we can talk more freely.' He put his hand through the young man's arm, and led him round the corner of the hotel towards the Schloss-Platz.
'These runs of luck will be your ruin, as I have told you before,' continued Captain De Stancy.