The Goddess: A Demon

I was sure that I had seen Edwin Lawrence juggle with the pack. As I lay there wide awake in bed it all came back to me. I wondered how I could have been such an unspeakable idiot. We had dined together at the Trocadero; then we had gone on to the Empire. The big music hall was packed with people, the heat was insufferable. "Let's get out of this," suggested Lawrence, almost as soon as we were in. "This crush, in this atmosphere, is not to be borne." I agreed with him. We left. "Come into my place for an hour," he said. We both lived in Imperial Mansions, on the same floor. His number was 64, mine was 79. You went out of his door, along the passage, round the corner to the right-the second door on the right was mine. I went in with him. "What do you say to a little gamble?" he asked. "It will be better than nothing." I agreed. We had a little gamble-at first for trivial stakes. I am an abstemious man. I had already drunk more than I was accustomed to. At his invitation I drank still more. We increased the stakes.