All this happened in December.  It must be explained that the captain had come to London at his brother’s instance, and was there, in his rooms, at his invitation.  Indeed, we may say that he had come at his brother’s command.  Augustus had during the last few months taken upon himself to direct the captain’s movements; and though he had not always been obeyed, still, upon the whole, his purposes had been carried out as well as he could expect.  He had offered to supply the money necessary for the captain’s tour, and had absolutely sent a servant to accompany the traveller.  When the traveller had won money at Monaco he had been unruly, but this had not happened very often.  When we last saw him he had expressed his intention to Mr. Hart of making a return journey to the Caucasian provinces.  But he got no farther than Genoa on his way to the Caucasus, and then, when he found that Mr. Hart was not at his back, he turned round and went back to Monte Carlo.  Monte Carlo, of all places on the world’s surface, had now charms for him.

There was no longer a club open to him, either in London or Paris, at which be could win or lose one hundred pounds.  At Monte Carlo he could still do so readily; and, to do so, need not sink down into any peculiarly low depth of social gathering.  At Monte Carlo the ennui of the day was made to disappear.  At Monte Carlo he could lie in bed till eleven, and then play till dinner-time.  At Monte Carlo there was always some one who would drink a glass of wine with him without inquiring too closely as to his antecedents.  He had begun by winning a large sum of money.  He had got some sums from his brother, and when at last he was summoned home he was penniless.  Had his pocket been still full of money it may be doubted whether he would have come, although he understood perfectly the importance of the matter on which he had been recalled.

He had been sent for in order that he might receive from Mr. Grey a clear statement of what it was intended to do in reference to the payment of money to the creditors.  Mr. Grey had, in the first place, endeavored to assure him that his co-operation was in no respect made necessary by the true circumstances of the case, but in order to satisfy the doubts of certain persons.  The money to be paid was the joint property of his father and his brother,—­of his father, as far as the use of it for his life was concerned, and of his brother, as to its continued and perpetual enjoyment.  They were willing to pay so much for the redemption of the bonds given by him, the captain.  As far as these bonds were concerned the captain would thus be a free man.  There could be no doubt that nothing but benefit was intended for him,—­as though he were himself the heir.  “Though as to that I have no hesitation in telling you that, you will at your father’s death have no right to a shilling of the property.”  The captain had said that he was quite willing, and had signed the deed.  He was glad that these bonds should be recovered so cheaply.  But as to the property,—­and here he spoke with much spirit to Mr. Grey,—­it was his purpose at his father’s death to endeavor to regain his position.  He would never believe, he said, that his mother was—­Then he turned away, and, in spite of all that had come and gone, Mr. Grey respected him.