“We shall not be disturbed,” said Gervase.  “I told the man I was expecting a friend, that our business was private, and that until he called I wished to be alone.  I did not explain by what entrance I expected him.  The people in the front cannot hear us.  Have a cigar?” He pushed the open case towards me.  Then, as I drew back, “You’ve no need to be scrupulous,” he added, “seeing that they were bought with your money.”

“If that’s so, I will,” said I; and having chosen one, struck a match.  Glancing round, I saw a hundred small flames spurt up, and a hundred men hold them to a hundred glowing cigar-tips.

“After you with the match.”  Gervase took it from me with a steady hand.  He, too, glanced about him while he puffed.  “Ugh!” He blew a long cloud, and shivered within his furred overcoat.  “What a gang!”

“It takes all sorts to make a world,” said I fatuously, for lack of anything better.

“Don’t be an infernal idiot!” he answered, flicking the dust off one of the gilt chairs, and afterwards cleaning a space for his elbow on the looking-glass table.  “It takes only two sorts to make the world we’ve lived in, and that’s you and I.”  He gazed slowly round the walls.  “You and I, and a few fellows like us—­not to mention the women, who don’t count.”

“Well,” said I, “as far as the world goes—­if you must discuss it—­ I always found it a good enough place.”

“Because you started as an unconsidering fool:  and because, afterwards, when we came to grips, you were the under-dog, and I gave you no time.  My word—­how I have hustled you!”

I yawned.  “All right:  I can wait.  Only if you suppose I came here to listen to your moral reflections—­”

He pulled the cigar from between his teeth and looked at me along it.

“I know perfectly well why you came here,” he said slowly, and paused.  “Hadn’t we better have it out—­with the cards on the table?” He drew a small revolver from his pocket and laid it with a light clink on the table before him.  I hesitated for a moment, then followed his example, and the silent men around us did the same.

A smile curled his thin lips as he observed this multiplied gesture.  “Yes,” he said, as if to himself, “that is what it all comes to.”

“And now,” said I, “since you know my purpose here, perhaps you will tell me yours.”

“That is just what I am trying to explain.  Only you are so impatient, and it—­well, it’s a trifle complicated.”  He puffed for a moment in silence.  “Roughly, it might be enough to say that I saw you standing outside my house a while ago; that I needed a talk with you alone, in some private place; that I guessed, if you saw me, you would follow with no more invitation; and that, so reasoning, I led you here, where no one is likely to interrupt us.”

“Well,” I admitted, “all that seems plain sailing.”

“Quite so; but it’s at this point the thing grows complicated.”  He rose, and walking to the fireplace, turned his back on me and spread his palms to the blaze.  “Well,” he asked, after a moment, gazing into the mirror before him, “why don’t you shoot?”