He did not answer. Then, man as he was, the blood came sweeping to face
and neck.

"I mean," added the girl quietly, her eyes, steady but very kind,
holding his, "I had word from the National this morning saying that our
account, the--the balance, was overdrawn--"

"Yes--I drew against it," whispered Colonel Desha. He would not meet
her eyes; he who had looked every man in the face. The fire caught him
again. "I had to, girlie, I had to," he cried over and over again. "I
intended telling you. We'll make it up a hundred times over. It was my
only chance. It's all up on the books--up on The Rogue. He'll win the
Carter as sure as there's a God in heaven. It's a ten-thousand stake,
and I've had twenty on him--the balance--your balance, girlie. I can pay
off Waterbury--" The fire died away as quickly. Somehow in the stillness
of the room, against the look in the girl's eyes, words seemed so
pitifully futile, so blatant, so utterly trivial.

Sue's face was averted, eyes on floor, hands tensely clasping those of
her father. Absolute stillness held the room. The colonel was staring at
the girl's bent head.

"It's--it's all right, girlie. All right, don't fret," he murmured
thickly. "The Rogue will win--bound to win. You don't understand--you're
only a girl--only a child----"

"Of course, Daddy," agreed Sue slowly, wide-eyed. "I'm only a child. I
don't understand."

But she understood more than her father. She was thinking of Billy