Whether he was leading up to an immediate loan, or in New York would ask for a card to a club, or an introduction to a banker, I could not tell.

But in forcing himself upon me, except in self-interest, I could think of no other motive.

The next evening I discovered the motive.
He was in the smoking-room playing solitaire, and at once I recalled that it was at Aix-les-Bains I had first seen him, and that he held a bank at baccarat.

When he asked me to sit down I said: "I saw you last summer at Aix-les-Bains." His eyes fell to the pack in his hands and apparently searched it for some particular card.
"What was I doing ?" he asked.
"Dealing baccarat at the Casino des Fleurs." With obvious relief he laughed.
"Oh, yes," he assented; "jolly place, Aix.

But I lost a pot of money there.