“No!” Bennington exclaimed.

“Yes.  It was in Italy, at Sorrento, that I learned of your nearness.  You were off for Amalfi and I had just come from there.  For three days I ran across your name in the hotel registers.  I tried to find your permanent address, but failed.  Cook’s nor the bankers in Naples knew anything about you.  I tell you what, it was discouraging.”

“What luck!  I was having all my mail sent direct to Mentone, where I spent the winter.  Say, what do you think?”

“About what?”

“Won five thousand at Monte Carlo in one play.”

“Pounds?” exclaimed Bennington.

“Lord, no!—­dollars.”

“Ah!  But of course you went back and lost it?” ironically.

“On the contrary, I’ve never staked a dollar since.  Gambling was never a habit of mine, though I dare say the moral side of the subject would not have held me back.  Simply, I know that the gambler always loses, and the banker always wins, in the end.  Common sense told me to quit, and I did.  I brought my letter of credit home practically intact.”

“You used to play poker,” dubiously.

“Poker isn’t gambling.  It’s surreptitiously lending money to your friends.”

“You were always good at definitions,” sighed Bennington.

“I understand you’ve sold your holdings in the English shops?”

“Yes.  I was weary of the people and what they called their conservatism, which is only a phase of stupidity.  And then, besides, I loved the old home up there.  I’ve been living there about a year now.”

“It’s a pity you couldn’t have looked me up before this,” Warrington complained.

Bennington only laughed affectionately.

“Take a look around the room while I get the whisky and soda.”

“Don’t bother, Dick.”

“Boy, I licked you once, and I’ll do it again if you don’t sit down.  A little extra attention won’t hurt; and I’ll guarantee the whisky.”  Waving his arms toward all the desirable things in the room, he vanished beyond the curtain.

Bennington looked about leisurely.  It was just the kind of room he had always imagined; it was like the man who occupied it.  Simplicity and taste abounded; the artist and the collector, the poet and the musician, were everywhere in evidence.  He strolled over to the mantel and took down one of the pictures signed “Kate.”  He smiled.  It was not an indulgent smile, nor the smile of a man who has stumbled upon another man’s secret.  The smile was rather exultant.  He leaned against the mantel and studied the face in its varied expressions.  He nodded approvingly.  It was a lovely face; it was more than lovely,—­it was tender and strong.  Presently he returned to his chair and sat down, the photograph still in his hand.  And in this position Warrington found him.

“Ah, you sly dog!” he hailed, setting down the glasses and pouring out a liberal bumper.  “So I’ve caught you?  Well, you’re not the only man who has been conquered by that very photograph.”  He had half a notion to go in and bring her out; but then, women are such finicky beings!