No reference was made to the previous evening, nor to the fact of his having remained out to a late hour.
It was the intention of Ellis, on leaving his house after breakfast, to repair to his store and make some preliminary arrangements for the day before hunting up Carlton; but on his way thither, his appetite constrained him to enter a certain drinking-house just for a single glass of brandy to give his nerves their proper tension.
"Ah! how are you, my boy ?" exclaimed Carlton, who was there before him, advancing as he spoke, and offering his hand in his usual frank way.
"Glad to meet you!" returned Ellis.

"Just the man I wished to see.

Take a drink ?" "I don't care if I do." And the two men moved up to the bar.

When they turned away, Carlton drew his arm familiarly within that of Ellis, and bending close to his ear, said--"You wish to take up your due-bills, I presume?
"You guess my wishes precisely," was the answer.
"Well, I shall be pleased to have you cancel them.

Are you prepared to do it this morning ?" "I am--in the way they were created." A gleam of satisfaction lit up the gambler's face, which was partly turned from Ellis; but he shrugged his shoulders, and said, in an altered voice--"I'm most afraid to try you again." "We're pretty well matched, I know," said the victim.