"Quite so," sneered Sir Charles. "We all know your affection for Cavanagh. But my dear Dagmar, fair play is a jewel you know. You must kill or cure yourself off your own bat, unless you choose to pair with Pardoe and adopt his treatment altogether. Those are the rules."
"You need not remind me," said my master drily. "By the way, Husband, what was the result of your last examination?"
"Two pounds short of my former weight, but the hole in my remaining lung has not sensibly increased. Jackson gives me solid a.s.surance of at least twelve months."
"Lucky devil!" sighed Mr. Cavanagh. "I"m booked in half the time, though I might drag on for a year or two if I were to try Egypt!"
"Has your limit been changed since our last meeting, Fulton," asked Mr.
Pardoe.
"Only by effluxion of the intervening time. I"ll feed the worms in just under ten months, unless a cab runs over me, or some other accident occurs."
Sir William raised his winegla.s.s. "Gentlemen," said he, "I drink to the Tubercle Bacillus!"
"Our master!" chorused the others, and every gla.s.s was drained.
I quickly refilled all but Sir William"s, wondering the while whether I had fallen among an a.s.sembly of ghouls, or if I was not the victim of some ghastly joke. The _piece de resistance_ of the dinner was a dressed calf"s head, which Sir William Dagmar carved. Not one of his guests began to eat until all were helped. But when that was done, my master suddenly ordered me to leave the room. b.u.t.ts regarded me enquiringly as I came out. "Spoke some foreign lingo, didn"t they?" he asked.
I nodded.
"They allers do," he went on. "Why, I don"t know, for the life o" me. A lot of death"s heads I call them."
"They look like consumptives," I suggested.
"Like as not they hare!" he returned. "Look at this muss, Brown! What do you make of it?"
He held up a huge bowl of cream into which a hundred different species of nuts had been grated. "This is what they take for sweets," he said with a shiver. "It tastes "orrible!"
"Perhaps it is medicine."
"May be. I spose you didn"t make out hanything they said, Brown?"
"They spoke in French, b.u.t.ts," I replied.
He shrugged his shoulders, and we waited for the bell. When it rang I took in the bowl of nut cream.
"Do you understand French, Brown?" demanded my master as soon as the door closed behind me.
"Not a word, sir."
"Very good. Serve the sweets, please."
A murmur of approval went round the table. The gentlemen ate their cream in silence, and washed it down with champagne. I refilled their gla.s.ses with the dexterity of an expert waiter, and I was about to resume my old place behind my master"s chair, when he fixed me with his eyes, and addressed me suddenly in French. "Brown!" cried he, "leave the room this instant!"
I halted and looked at him with a stupid air. "Beg pardon, sir. Did you speak to me, sir?"
He smiled and answered in English. "Yes, Brown, fill my gla.s.s please. I forgot that you do not understand French!"
"You should have tested the fellow beforehand," said Sir Charles Venner in French. "The closer you approach your tomb, Dagmar, the more careless you become!"
"What does it matter," said my master wearily. "Pardoe, kindly present your report!"
Mr. Pardoe got slowly to his feet, and I marvelled to see for the first time, his lean ungainly frame. A bag of skin and bone it was, no more.
A frightful fit of coughing preluded his speech. When he had recovered, he put his right foot on a chair, and leaning on his bony knee, began as follows:--
"Gentlemen, this is our seventeenth monthly gathering since the initiation of our order, and we are all, seven of us, still above ground, although we were all condemned as incurable before we first foregathered. During the period I have indicated not one of us has flinched from his bargain, and as your latest secretary, gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that I have duly and regularly received from each member the weekly contribution fixed by our rules. The amount at present standing to my credit in trust for the order is 7,000." He took a small pa.s.s-book from his pocket, and handed it to his nearest neighbour, who glanced at its contents and pa.s.sed it up the table to Sir William. "You will find in that book, gentlemen, a cheque for the amount named marked "good" by the Bank. I have the honor now to tender you my resignation. Mr. Cavanagh should, I believe, be my successor."
He sat down again, coughing terribly.
Sir William nodded. "It is your turn, Cavanagh," he said quietly. "You will hold office for the current month."
"Very well," replied Mr. Cavanagh, tugging fiercely at his moustache as he spoke. "You fellows can forward your subs, direct to my studio, without waiting for notices. I never write letters."
Sir William arose, holding the cheque above his head. "Whose shall it be this time, friends?" he demanded. "Remember that I have won three times running. Will any give me odds?"
"I," cried Dr. Fulton sharply. "I"ll lay you seven to one in hundreds, Dagmar, that you do not win to-night."
"Done! Come, gentlemen."
They trooped out of the room, and I, ablaze with curiosity, made haste to follow them, carrying a silver tray of coffee and liqueurs with which b.u.t.ts supplied me.
I found them standing around the larger card-table, watching, in perfect silence, Mr. Nevil Pardoe shaking an iron dice-box. Upon the middle of the cloth lay the cheque for 7,000 face upwards, which Mr.
Pardoe had given to Sir William. No one heeded me, so I put down the tray and watched them. Presently Mr. Pardoe scattered the dice upon the cloth.
"Five," said Mr. Cavanagh, picking up the dice. "Your turn, Sir Charles."
Sir Charles took up the box, scarcely rattled it, and threw.
"Six," said Mr. Cavanagh. "Dr. Fulton."
The doctor threw eleven; Mr. Husband five; Mr. Humphreys thirteen, and Mr. Cavanagh sixteen.
When the latter"s fortune was declared, Dr. Fulton rubbed his hands together. "He! he! he! beat that, Dagmar!" he chuckled.
Sir William took up the box for half a minute, and scattered the pieces without looking at the board.
"Seventeen!" said Mr. Cavanagh in a stifled voice. The poor young man"s face was a ghastly sight to witness. He had evidently made sure of winning, and the s.n.a.t.c.hing of the cup from his lips had cost him a month of his fast dwindling life, or his looks belied him. He sank into a chair and began to cough so violently that a b.l.o.o.d.y foam soon stained the handkerchief he held before his mouth.
Sir William, with a curiously blank smile, took up the cheque and slipped it into his pocket. "I"ll trouble you for seven hundred pounds at your leisure, Fulton," he said quietly.
"I"ll post it," snapped the doctor. "May the furies seize your luck!
That is the fourth time in succession you have fleeced us!"
The others shrugged their shoulders, and sought chairs, which they drew about the board. I served them immediately with coffee. A moment later, each had a pile of bank-notes and gold before him, and at the centre of the table, in a little cup-like depression, lay a heap of sovereigns.
The game was draw poker. It was a strange experience for me to watch them. All seven seemed gamblers born. All had death in their faces, and were living only by the grace of their disease. All were men of uncommon intellect. They played with a rigid affectation of indifference, that poorly concealed their underlying eagerness. They only spoke to bet, and the stakes ran high. From the first Sir William Dagmar won. His luck was marvellous. Standing as I did behind his chair, I could see his cards and his opponents" faces. Twice running, four queens were dealt him. Each time he won a considerable sum, and each time six pair of wolfish eyes detested his good fortune. Twice again he drew for a flush, and made it. On the latter occasion, two of his opponents held full hands--Sir Charles Venner and Mr. Cavanagh. The others pa.s.sed out, but Venner and Cavanagh bet to the limit, a hundred pounds. Sir William called them, and with his customary blandness, scooped the pool. They arose, with muttered curses, to their feet, and became spectators. Half an hour later the game broke up. Sir William had despoiled the last of his guests, and his pockets simply bulged with money.
"It is an omen!" he declared. "I now believe that I shall be the first to go! Fate is fond of such little ironies! Brown," he added in English. "Help these gentlemen to don their cloaks. My friends, good-night."