I could observe from the looks of the
victim that he had been so far at least drawn into a recital of facts
(the nature of which it was not difficult for me to conjecture), for I
heard the word Gourlay fall from his lips, as the last of a sentence
which my entry had cut short. Indeed, I may as well state here that
Graeme afterwards admitted to me that when I entered he was in the midst
of a confession of the whole secret of the false play, to which
confession he had been first driven by his internal monitor; and
secondly, led or rather pulled on by the arch-ambidexter, whose game it
was to cheat the cheater, and get the money from him upon some pretence
of seeking out Mrs. Gourlay and paying the money to her. I was, in
short, in the very nick of time, and could hardly help smiling at the
strange part I was playing in what was, as I thought, one of those
serious melodramatic farces of which (in the Frenchman's sense) this
strange world of laughter and groans is made up.
"Dr. Rogers," said I, after the customary greetings, "it is well I have
found you. I picked up a poor woman by the way who lay under the seizure
of premature labour, and knowing the generosity of my friend, I brought
her here for succour and relief. She is in the green parlour, and, I
fear, in exigency. Come."
"May I see her?" said Graeme.
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