He smoked for a time in reflective silence.

"What's the girl like?" he enquired, presently. "Is she attractive?"

"Sufficiently so to fascinate Arthur Weldon. Moreover, she has just been
introduced in our set, and knows nothing of your shady past history.
Even if rumors came to her ears, young creatures of her sort often find
a subtle charm in a man accused of being 'naughty.'"

"Humph!"

"If you win her, you get a wife easily managed and a splendid fortune to
squander as you please."

"Sounds interesting, Di, doesn't it? But--"

"In regard to preliminary expenses," she interrupted, calmly, "I have
said that your reward will be ample when you have won the game. But
meantime I am willing to invest the necessary funds in the enterprise. I
will allow you a thousand a month." "Bah! that's nothing at all!" said
he, contemptuously, as he flicked the ashes from his cigarette.

"What do you demand, then?"

"Five hundred a week, in advance. It's an expensive job, Di."

"Very well; I will give you five hundred a week; but only as long as you
work earnestly to carry out the plot. I shall watch you, Charlie. And
you must not lose sight of the ultimate reward."