responsibility of the children off your sister's shoulders."
He smiled--his teeth seemed to have the extraordinary whiteness that is the compensation of a dark skin.
"I see," he said, "that Griggs has been discreet again." He glanced at his watch. "I'm going to Mexico in a few hours, Miss Exeter. I have just twenty-five minutes. If in that time I am not thoroughly indiscreet I can't look to you for any help. The situation is this:
My sister married Gordon Conway when she was very young--eighteen; he turned out to be a gambler. I don't know whether you've ever known any gamblers"
--Miss Exeter never had—
"but they are a peculiar breed—the real ones--charming--friendly--gay--open-handed when they are winning; they become the most inhuman devils in the world when they are losing. Never get tied up to a gambler. During my poor sister's romance and marriage Conway was winning--large sums--on the races.
But that stopped a month or so after their marriage, and ever since then, as far as I know, he has lost--in stocks, at Monte Carlo, and finally at every little gambling casino in Europe. After about six years of it we managed to get her a divorce.
She has entire control of the children, of course. Conway has sunk out of sight. Oh, once in a while he turns up and tries to get a little money from her, but fortunately what little she inherited from my father came to her after her