Naturally he turned again to the thought of gambling, this time the great legalised game of hazard, wherein he was as little likely to prosper as among the blacklegs of Brussels.

Rolfe liked him for his ingenuousness, and for the vein of poetry in his nature.

The love affair still went on, but Morphew seldom alluded to it, and his seasoned friend thought of it as a youthful ailment which would pass and be forgotten.
'I'm convinced,' said the young man presently, 'that any one who really gives his mind to it can speculate with moderate success.

Look at the big men--the brokers and the company promoters, and so on; I've met some of them, and there's nothing in them--nothing! Now, there's Bennet Frothingham.

You know him, I think ?' Rolfe nodded.
'Well, what do you think of him?
Isn't he a very ordinary fellow?
How has he got such a position?
I'm told he began just in a small way--by chance.