“As you please,” replied the latter quietly, as he pushed the entire pile forward.

Segrave dealt, then turned up his card.

“Ten!” he said curtly.

“Mine is a knave,” rejoined Lambert.

“How do we stand?” queried the other, as with a rapid gesture he passed a trembling hand over his burning forehead.

“Methinks you owe me a hundred pounds,” replied Richard, who seemed strangely calm in the very midst of this inexplicable and volcanic turmoil which he felt was seething all round him.  He had won a hundred pounds—­a fortune in those days for a country lad like himself; but for the moment the thought of what that hundred pounds would mean to him and to his brother Adam, was lost in the whirl of excitement which had risen to his head like wine.

He had steadily refused the glasses of muscadel or sack which Mistress Endicott had insinuatingly and persistently been offering him, ever since he began to play; yet he felt intoxicated, with strange currents of fire which seemed to run through his veins.

The subtle poison had done its work.  Any remorse which he may have felt at first, for thus acting against his own will and better judgment, and for yielding like a weakling to persuasion, which had no moral rectitude for basis, was momentarily smothered by the almost childish delight of winning, of seeing the pile of gold growing in front of him.  He had never handled money before; it was like a fascinating yet insidious toy which he could not help but finger.

“Are you not playing rather high, gentlemen?” came in dulcet tones from Mistress Endicott; “I do not allow high play in my house.  Master Lambert, I would fain ask you to cease.”

“I am more than ready, madam,” said Richard with alacrity.

“Nay! but I am not ready,” interposed Segrave vehemently.  “Nay! nay!” he repeated with feverish insistence, “Master Lambert cannot cease playing now.  He is bound in honor to give me a chance for revenge....  Double or quits, Master Lambert! ...  Double or quits?”

“As you please,” quoth Lambert imperturbably.

“Ye cannot cut to each other,” here interposed Endicott didactically.  “The rules of primero moreover demand that if there are but two players, a third and disinterested party shall deal the cards.”

“Then will you cut and deal, Master Endicott,” said Segrave impatiently; “I care not so long as I can break Master Lambert’s luck and redeem mine own....  Double or quits, Master Lambert....  Double or quits....  I shall either owe you two hundred pounds or not one penny....  In which case we can make a fresh start....”

Lambert eyed him with curiosity, sympathetically too, for the young man was in a state of terrible mental agitation, whilst he himself felt cooler than before.

Endicott dealt each of the two opponents a card face downwards, but even as he did so, the one which he had dealt to Lambert fluttered to the ground.