"What beastly luck!" "It is bad luck," confessed Snell, falteringly.

"But it isn't my fault.

I have done my best." The man in black said nothing, but stood with his head bowed, the elbow of his right arm resting in the hollow of his left hand, while his right hand, fiercely clinched, supported his chin.

The wind continued to flap the cape about his shoulders.
The man's attitude and his silence gave Snell a feeling of fear, and he drew away, acting as if he contemplated taking to his heels, for all that he had said he would not run.
"I do not propose to endure much more of this," muttered the man, at length.

"I'll have that ring soon, by some means!" "You must consider it very valuable," said Wat, curiously.
"Valuable!" came hoarsely from the lips of the man in black.