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+Project Gutenberg’s The Man Who Could Not Lose, by Richard Harding Davis
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Man Who Could Not Lose
+
+Author: Richard Harding Davis
+
+Posting Date: October 23, 2008 [EBook #1760]
+Release Date: May, 1999
+Last Updated: September 26, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN WHO COULD NOT LOSE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Aaron Cannon
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MAN WHO COULD NOT LOSE
+
+by Richard Harding Davis
+
+
+
+The Carters had married in haste and refused to repent at leisure. So
+blindly were they in love, that they considered their marriage their
+greatest asset. The rest of the world, as represented by mutual friends,
+considered it the only thing that could be urged against either of them.
+While single, each had been popular. As a bachelor, young “Champ” Carter
+had filled his modest place acceptably. Hostesses sought him for dinners
+and week-end parties, men of his own years, for golf and tennis, and
+young girls liked him because when he talked to one of them he never
+talked of himself, or let his eyes wander toward any other girl. He had
+been brought up by a rich father in an expensive way, and the rich
+father had then died leaving Champneys alone in the world, with no
+money, and with even a few of his father’s debts. These debts of honor
+the son, ever since leaving Yale, had been paying off. It had kept him
+very poor, for Carter had elected to live by his pen, and, though he
+wrote very carefully and slowly, the editors of the magazines had been
+equally careful and slow in accepting what he wrote.
+
+With an income so uncertain that the only thing that could be said of it
+with certainty was that it was too small to support even himself,
+Carter should not have thought of matrimony. Nor, must it be said to his
+credit, did he think of it until the girl came along that he wanted to
+marry.
+
+The trouble with Dolly Ingram was her mother. Her mother was a really
+terrible person. She was quite impossible. She was a social leader, and
+of such importance that visiting princes and society reporters, even
+among themselves, did not laugh at her. Her visiting list was so small
+that she did not keep a social secretary, but, it was said, wrote her
+invitations herself. Stylites on his pillar was less exclusive. Nor did
+he take his exalted but lonely position with less sense of humor. When
+Ingram died and left her many millions to dispose of absolutely as she
+pleased, even to the allowance she should give their daughter, he left
+her with but one ambition unfulfilled. That was to marry her Dolly to
+an English duke. Hungarian princes, French marquises, Italian counts,
+German barons, Mrs. Ingram could not see. Her son-in-law must be a
+duke. She had her eyes on two, one somewhat shopworn, and the other a
+bankrupt; and in training, she had one just coming of age. Already she
+saw her self a sort of a dowager duchess by marriage, discussing with
+real dowager duchesses the way to bring up teething earls and viscounts.
+For three years in Europe Mrs. Ingram had been drilling her daughter for
+the part she intended her to play. But, on returning to her native land,
+Dolly, who possessed all the feelings, thrills, and heart-throbs of
+which her mother was ignorant, ungratefully fell deeply in love
+with Champneys Carter, and he with her. It was always a question of
+controversy between them as to which had first fallen in love with the
+other. As a matter of history, honors were even.
+
+He first saw her during a thunder storm, in the paddock at the races,
+wearing a rain-coat with the collar turned up and a Panama hat with the
+brim turned down. She was talking, in terms of affectionate familiarity,
+with Cuthbert’s two-year-old, The Scout. The Scout had just lost a
+race by a nose, and Dolly was holding the nose against her cheek and
+comforting him. The two made a charming picture, and, as Carter stumbled
+upon it and halted, the race-horse lowered his eyes and seemed to say:
+“Wouldn’t YOU throw a race for this?” And the girl raised her eyes and
+seemed to say: “What a nice-looking, bright-looking young man! Why don’t
+I know who you are?”
+
+So, Carter ran to find Cuthbert, and told him The Scout had gone lame.
+When, on their return, Miss Ingram refused to loosen her hold on The
+Scout’s nose, Cuthbert apologetically mumbled Carter’s name, and in some
+awe Miss Ingram’s name, and then, to his surprise, both young people
+lost interest in The Scout, and wandered away together into the rain.
+
+After an hour, when they parted at the club stand, for which Carter
+could not afford a ticket, he asked wistfully: “Do you often come
+racing?” and Miss Ingram said: “Do you mean, am I coming to-morrow?”
+
+“I do!” said Carter.
+
+“Then, why didn’t you say that?” inquired Miss Ingram. “Otherwise I
+mightn’t have come. I have the Holland House coach for to-morrow, and,
+if you’ll join us, I’ll save a place for you, and you can sit in our
+box.
+
+“I’ve lived so long abroad,” she explained, “that I’m afraid of not
+being simple and direct like other American girls. Do you think I’ll get
+on here at home?”
+
+“If you get on with every one else as well as you’ve got on with me,”
+ said Carter morosely, “I will shoot myself.”
+
+Miss Ingram smiled thoughtfully. “At eleven, then,” she said, “in front
+of the Holland House.”
+
+Carter walked away with a flurried, heated suffocation around his heart
+and a joyous lightness in his feet. Of the first man he met he demanded,
+“Who was the beautiful girl in the rain-coat?” And when the man told
+him, Carter left him without speaking. For she was quite the richest
+girl in America. But the next day that fault seemed to distress her so
+little that Carter, also, refused to allow it to rest on his conscience,
+and they were very happy. And each saw that they were happy because they
+were together.
+
+The ridiculous mother was not present at the races, but after Carter
+began to call at their house and was invited to dinner, Mrs. Ingram
+received him with her habitual rudeness. As an impediment in the
+success of her ambition she never considered him. As a boy friend of her
+daughter’s, she classed him with “her” lawyer and “her” architect and
+a little higher than the “person” who arranged the flowers. Nor, in
+her turn, did Dolly consider her mother; for within two months another
+matter of controversy between Dolly and Carter was as to who had first
+proposed to the other. Carter protested there never had been any formal
+proposal, that from the first they had both taken it for granted that
+married they would be. But Dolly insisted that because he had been
+afraid of her money, or her mother, he had forced her to propose to him.
+
+“You could not have loved me very much,” she complained, “if you’d let a
+little thing like money make you hesitate.”
+
+“It’s not a little thing,” suggested Carter. “They say it’s several
+millions, and it happens to be YOURS. If it were MINE, now!” “Money,”
+ said Dolly sententiously, “is given people to make them happy, not to
+make them miserable.”
+
+“Wait until I sell my stories to the magazines,” said Carter, “and then
+I will be independent and can support you.”
+
+The plan did not strike Dolly as one likely to lead to a hasty marriage.
+But he was sensitive about his stories, and she did not wish to hurt his
+feelings.
+
+“Let’s get married first,” she suggested, “and then I can BUY you a
+magazine. We’ll call it CARTER’S MAGAZINE and we will print nothing in
+it but your stories. Then we can laugh at the editors!”
+
+“Not half as loud as they will,” said Carter.
+
+With three thousand dollars in bank and three stories accepted and
+seventeen still to hear from, and with Dolly daily telling him that it
+was evident he did not love her, Carter decided they were ready, hand
+in hand, to leap into the sea of matrimony. His interview on the subject
+with Mrs. Ingram was most painful. It lasted during the time it took her
+to walk out of her drawing-room to the foot of her staircase. She
+spoke to herself, and the only words of which Carter was sure were
+“preposterous” and “intolerable insolence.” Later in the morning she
+sent a note to his flat, forbidding him not only her daughter, but the
+house in which her daughter lived, and even the use of the United States
+mails and the New York telephone wires. She described his conduct in
+words that, had they come from a man, would have afforded Carter every
+excuse for violent exercise.
+
+Immediately in the wake of the note arrived Dolly, in tears, and
+carrying a dressing-case.
+
+“I have left mother!” she announced. “And I have her car downstairs, and
+a clergyman in it, unless he has run away. He doesn’t want to marry us,
+because he’s afraid mother will stop supporting his flower mission. You
+get your hat and take me where he can marry us. No mother can talk about
+the man I love the way mother talked about you, and think I won’t marry
+him the same day!”
+
+Carter, with her mother’s handwriting still red before his eyes, and his
+self-love shaken with rage flourished the letter.
+
+“And no mother,” he shouted, “can call ME a ‘fortune-hunter’ and a
+‘cradle-robber’ and think I’ll make good by marrying her daughter! Not
+until she BEGS me to!”
+
+Dolly swept toward him like a summer storm. Her eyes were wet and
+flashing. “Until WHO begs you to?” she demanded. “WHO are you marrying;
+mother or me?”
+
+“If I marry you,” cried Carter, frightened but also greatly excited,
+“your mother won’t give you a penny!”
+
+“And that,” taunted Dolly, perfectly aware that she was ridiculous, “is
+why you won’t marry me!”
+
+For an instant, long enough to make her blush with shame and happiness,
+Carter grinned at her. “Now, just for that,” he said, “I won’t kiss you,
+and I WILL marry you!” But, as a matter of fact, he DID kiss her. Then
+he gazed happily around his small sitting-room. “Make yourself at home
+here,” he directed, “while I pack my bag.”
+
+“I MEAN to make myself very much at home here,” said Dolly joyfully,
+“for the rest of my life.”
+
+From the recesses of the flat Carter called: “The rent’s paid only till
+September. After that we live in a hall bedroom and cook on a gas-stove.
+And that’s no idle jest, either.”
+
+Fearing the publicity of the City Hall license bureau, they released the
+clergyman, much to the relief of that gentleman, and told the chauffeur
+to drive across the State line into Connecticut.
+
+“It’s the last time we can borrow your mother’s car,” said Carter, “and
+we’d better make it go as far as we can.”
+
+It was one of those days in May. Blue was the sky and sunshine was in
+the air, and in the park little girls from the tenements, in white,
+were playing they were queens. Dolly wanted to kidnap two of them for
+bridesmaids. In Harlem they stopped at a jeweler’s shop, and Carter got
+out and bought a wedding-ring.
+
+In the Bronx were dogwood blossoms and leaves of tender green and beds
+of tulips, and along the Boston Post Road, on their right, the Sound
+flashed in the sunlight; and on their left, gardens, lawns, and orchards
+ran with the road, and the apple trees were masses of pink and white.
+
+Whenever a car approached from the rear, Carter pretended it was Mrs.
+Ingram coming to prevent the elopement, and Dolly clung to him. When the
+car had passed, she forgot to stop clinging to him.
+
+In Greenwich Village they procured a license, and a magistrate married
+them, and they were a little frightened and greatly happy and, they both
+discovered simultaneously, outrageously hungry. So they drove through
+Bedford Village to South Salem, and lunched at the Horse and Hounds Inn,
+on blue and white china, in the same room where Major Andre was once a
+prisoner. And they felt very sorry for Major Andre, and for everybody
+who had not been just married that morning. And after lunch they sat
+outside in the garden and fed lumps of sugar to a charming collie and
+cream to a fat gray cat.
+
+They decided to start housekeeping in Carter’s flat, and so turned back
+to New York, this time following the old coach road through North Castle
+to White Plains, across to Tarrytown, and along the bank of the Hudson
+into Riverside Drive. Millions and millions of friendly folk, chiefly
+nurse-maids and traffic policemen, waved to them, and for some reason
+smiled.
+
+“The joke of it is,” declared Carter, “they don’t know! The most
+wonderful event of the century has just passed into history. We are
+married, and nobody knows!”
+
+But when the car drove away from in front of Carter’s door, they saw on
+top of it two old shoes and a sign reading: “We have just been married.”
+ While they had been at luncheon, the chauffeur had risen to the
+occasion.
+
+“After all,” said Carter soothingly, “he meant no harm. And it’s the
+only thing about our wedding yet that seems legal.”
+
+Three months later two very unhappy young people faced starvation in the
+sitting-room of Carter’s flat. Gloom was written upon the countenance of
+each, and the heat and the care that comes when one desires to live, and
+lacks the wherewithal to fulfill that desire, had made them pallid and
+had drawn black lines under Dolly’s eyes.
+
+Mrs. Ingram had played her part exactly as her dearest friends had
+said she would. She had sent to Carter’s flat, seven trunks filled with
+Dolly’s clothes, eighteen hats, and another most unpleasant letter. In
+this, on the sole condition that Dolly would at once leave her husband,
+she offered to forgive and to support her.
+
+To this Dolly composed eleven scornful answers, but finally decided that
+no answer at all was the most scornful.
+
+She and Carter then proceeded joyfully to waste his three thousand
+dollars with that contempt for money with which on a honey-moon it
+should always be regarded. When there was no more, Dolly called upon her
+mother’s lawyers and inquired if her father had left her anything in
+her own right. The lawyers regretted he had not, but having loved Dolly
+since she was born, offered to advance her any money she wanted. They
+said they felt sure her mother would “relent.”
+
+“SHE may,” said Dolly haughtily. “I WON’T! And my husband can give me
+all I need. I only wanted something of my own, because I’m going to make
+him a surprise present of a new motor-car. The one we are using now does
+not suit us.”
+
+This was quite true, as the one they were then using ran through the
+subway.
+
+As summer approached, Carter had suddenly awakened to the fact that he
+soon would be a pauper, and cut short the honey-moon. They returned to
+the flat, and he set forth to look for a position. Later, while still
+looking for it, he spoke of it as a “job.” He first thought he would
+like to be an assistant editor of a magazine. But he found editors of
+magazines anxious to employ new and untried assistants, especially
+in June, were very few. On the contrary, they explained they were
+retrenching and cutting down expenses--they meant they had discharged
+all office boys who received more than three dollars a week. They
+further “retrenched,” by taking a mean advantage of Carter’s having
+called upon them in person, by handing him three or four of his
+stories--but by this he saved his postage-stamps.
+
+Each day, when he returned to the flat, Dolly, who always expected each
+editor would hastily dust off his chair and offer it to her brilliant
+husband, would smile excitedly and gasp, “Well?” and Carter would throw
+the rejected manuscripts on the table and say: “At least, I have not
+returned empty-handed.” Then they would discover a magazine that neither
+they nor any one else knew existed, and they would hurriedly readdress
+the manuscripts to that periodical, and run to post them at the
+letter-box on the corner.
+
+“Any one of them, if ACCEPTED,” Carter would point out, “might bring us
+in twenty-five dollars. A story of mine once sold for forty; so to-night
+we can afford to dine at a restaurant where wine is NOT ‘included.’”
+
+Fortunately, they never lost their sense of humor. Otherwise the narrow
+confines of the flat, the evil smells that rose from the baked
+streets, the greasy food of Italian and Hungarian restaurants, and the
+ever-haunting need of money might have crushed their youthful spirits.
+But in time even they found that one, still less two, cannot
+exist exclusively on love and the power to see the bright side of
+things--especially when there is no bright side. They had come to the
+point where they must borrow money from their friends, and that, though
+there were many who would have opened their safes to them, they had
+agreed was the one thing they would not do, or they must starve. The
+alternative was equally distasteful.
+
+Carter had struggled earnestly to find a job. But his inexperience and
+the season of the year were against him. No newspaper wanted a dramatic
+critic when the only shows in town had been running three months, and
+on roof gardens; nor did they want a “cub” reporter when veterans were
+being “laid off” by the dozens. Nor were his services desired as a
+private secretary, a taxicab driver, an agent to sell real estate
+or automobiles or stocks. As no one gave him a chance to prove his
+unfitness for any of these callings, the fact that he knew nothing
+of any of them did not greatly matter. At these rebuffs Dolly was
+distinctly pleased. She argued they proved he was intended to pursue his
+natural career as an author.
+
+That their friends might know they were poor did not affect her, but she
+did not want them to think by his taking up any outside “job” that they
+were poor because as a literary genius he was a failure. She believed
+in his stories. She wanted every one else to believe in them. Meanwhile,
+she assisted him in so far as she could by pawning the contents of five
+of the seven trunks, by learning to cook on a “Kitchenette,” and to
+laundry her handkerchiefs and iron them on the looking-glass.
+
+They faced each other across the breakfast-table. It was only nine
+o’clock, but the sun beat into the flat with the breath of a furnace,
+and the air was foul and humid.
+
+“I tell you,” Carter was saying fiercely, “you look ill. You are ill.
+You must go to the sea-shore. You must visit some of your proud friends
+at East Hampton or Newport. Then I’ll know you’re happy and I won’t
+worry, and I’ll find a job. I don’t mind the heat--and I’ll write you
+love letters”--he was talking very fast and not looking at Dolly--“like
+those I used to write you, before----”
+
+Dolly raised her hand. “Listen!” she said. “Suppose I leave you. What
+will happen? I’ll wake up in a cool, beautiful brass bed, won’t I--with
+cretonne window-curtains, and salt air blowing them about, and a maid
+to bring me coffee. And instead of a bathroom like yours, next to an
+elevator shaft and a fire-escape, I’ll have one as big as a church,
+and the whole blue ocean to swim in. And I’ll sit on the rocks in the
+sunshine and watch the waves and the yachts--”
+
+“And grow well again!” cried Carter. “But you’ll write to me,” he added
+wistfully, “every day, won’t you?”
+
+In her wrath, Dolly rose, and from across the table confronted him.
+
+“And what will I be doing on those rocks?” she cried. “You KNOW what
+I’ll be doing! I’ll be sobbing, and sobbing, and calling out to the
+waves: ‘Why did he send me away? Why doesn’t he want me? Because he
+doesn’t love me. That’s why! He doesn’t LOVE me!’ And you DON’T!” cried
+Dolly. “You DON’T!”
+
+It took him all of three minutes to persuade her she was mistaken.
+
+“Very well, then,” sobbed Dolly, “that’s settled. And there’ll be no
+more talk of sending me away!
+
+“There will NOT!” said Champneys hastily. “We will now,” he announced,
+“go into committee of the whole and decide how we are to face financial
+failure. Our assets consist of two stories, accepted, but not paid for,
+and fifteen stories not accepted.” In cash, he spread upon the table
+a meagre collection of soiled bills and coins. “We have twenty-seven
+dollars and fourteen cents. That is every penny we possess in the
+world.”
+
+Dolly regarded him fixedly and shook her head.
+
+“Is it wicked,” she asked, “to love you so?”
+
+“Haven’t you been listening to me?” demanded Carter.
+
+Again Dolly shook her head.
+
+“I was watching the way you talk. When your lips move fast they do such
+charming things.”
+
+“Do you know,” roared Carter, “that we haven’t a penny in the world,
+that we have nothing in this flat to eat?”
+
+“I still have five hats,” said Dolly.
+
+“We can’t eat hats,” protested Champneys.
+
+“We can sell hats!” returned Dolly. “They cost eighty dollars apiece!”
+
+“When you need money,” explained Carter, “I find it’s just as hard to
+sell a hat as to eat it.”
+
+“Twenty-seven dollars and fourteen cents,” repeated Dolly. She exclaimed
+remorsefully: “And you started with three thousand! What did I do with
+it?”
+
+“We both had the time of our lives with it!” said Carter stoutly. “And
+that’s all there is to that. Post-mortems,” he pointed out, “are useful
+only as guides to the future, and as our future will never hold a second
+three thousand dollars, we needn’t worry about how we spent the first
+one. No! What we must consider now is how we can grow rich quick, and
+the quicker and richer, the better. Pawning our clothes, or what’s left
+of them, is bad economics. There’s no use considering how to live from
+meal to meal. We must evolve something big, picturesque, that will bring
+a fortune. You have imagination; I’m supposed to have imagination, we
+must think of a plan to get money, much money. I do not insist on our
+plan being dignified, or even outwardly respectable; so long as it keeps
+you alive, it may be as desperate as--”
+
+“I see!” cried Dolly; “like sending mother Black Hand letters!”
+
+“Blackmail----” began that lady’s son-in-law doubtfully.
+
+“Or!” cried Dolly, “we might kidnap Mr. Carnegie when he’s walking in
+the park alone, and hold him for ransom. Or”--she rushed on--“we might
+forge a codicil to father’s will, and make it say if mother shouldn’t
+like the man I want to marry, all of father’s fortune must go to my
+husband!”
+
+“Forgery,” exclaimed Champneys, “is going further than I----”
+
+“And another plan,” interrupted Dolly, “that I have always had in mind,
+is to issue a cheaper edition of your book, ‘The Dead Heat.’ The reason
+the first edition of ‘The Dead Heat’ didn’t sell----”
+
+“Don’t tell ME why it didn’t sell,” said Champneys. “I wrote it!”
+
+“That book,” declared Dolly loyally, “was never properly advertised. No
+one knew about it, so no one bought it!”
+
+“Eleven people bought it!” corrected the author.
+
+“We will put it in a paper cover and sell it for fifty cents,” cried
+Dolly. “It’s the best detective story I ever read, and people have got
+to know it is the best. So we’ll advertise it like a breakfast food.”
+
+“The idea,” interrupted Champneys, “is to make money, not throw it away.
+Besides, we haven’t any to throw away. Dolly sighed bitterly.
+
+“If only,” she exclaimed, “we had that three thousand dollars back
+again! I’d save SO carefully. It was all my fault. The races took it,
+but it was I took you to the races.”
+
+“No one ever had to drag ME to the races,” said Carter. “It was the way
+we went that was extravagant. Automobiles by the hour standing idle, and
+a box each day, and----”
+
+“And always backing Dromedary,” suggested Dolly. Carter was touched on
+a sensitive spot. “That horse,” he protested loudly, “is a mighty good
+horse. Some day----”
+
+“That’s what you always said,” remarked Dolly, “but he never seems to
+have his day.”
+
+“It’s strange,” said Champneys consciously. “I dreamed of Dromedary
+only last night. Same dream over and over again.” Hastily he changed the
+subject.
+
+“For some reason I don’t sleep well. I don’t know why.”
+
+Dolly looked at him with all the love in her eyes of a mother over her
+ailing infant.
+
+“It’s worrying over me, and the heat,”’ she said. “And the garage
+next door, and the skyscraper going up across the street, might have
+something to do with it. And YOU,” she mocked tenderly, “wanted to send
+me to the sea-shore.”
+
+Carter was frowning. As though about to speak, he opened his lips, and
+then laughed embarrassedly.
+
+“Out with it,” said Dolly, with an encouraging smile. “Did he win?”
+
+Seeing she had read what was in his mind, Carter leaned forward eagerly.
+The ruling passion and a touch of superstition held him in their grip.
+
+“He ‘win’ each time,” he whispered. “I saw it as plain as I see you.
+Each time he came up with a rush just at the same place, just as
+they entered the stretch, and each time he won!” He slapped his hand
+disdainfully upon the dirty bills before him. “If I had a hundred
+dollars!”
+
+There was a knock at the door, and Carter opened it to the elevator boy
+with the morning mail. The letters, save one, Carter dropped upon
+the table. That one, with clumsy fingers, he tore open. He exclaimed
+breathlessly: “It’s from PLYMPTON’S MAGAZINE! Maybe--I’ve sold a story!”
+ He gave a cry almost of alarm. His voice was as solemn as though the
+letter had announced a death.
+
+“Dolly,” he whispered, “it’s a check--a check for a HUNDRED DOLLARS!”
+
+Guiltily, the two young people looked at each other.
+
+“We’ve GOT to!” breathed Dolly. “GOT to! If we let TWO signs like that
+pass, we’d be flying in the face of Providence.”
+
+With her hands gripping the arms of her chair, she leaned forward, her
+eyes staring into space, her lips moving.
+
+“COME ON, you Dromedary!” she whispered.
+
+They changed the check into five and ten dollar bills, and, as Carter
+was far too excited to work, made an absurdly early start for the
+race-track.
+
+“We might as well get all the fresh air we can,” said Dolly. “That’s all
+we will get!”
+
+From their reserve fund of twenty-seven dollars which each had solemnly
+agreed with the other would not be risked on race-horses, Dolly
+subtracted a two-dollar bill. This she stuck conspicuously across the
+face of the clock on the mantel.
+
+“Why?” asked Carter.
+
+“When we get back this evening,” Dolly explained, “that will be the
+first thing we’ll see. It’s going to look awfully good!”
+
+This day there was no scarlet car to rush them with refreshing swiftness
+through Brooklyn’s parkways and along the Ocean Avenue. Instead, they
+hung to a strap in a cross-town car, changed to the ferry, and again to
+the Long Island Railroad. When Carter halted at the special car of the
+Turf Club, Dolly took his arm and led him forward to the day coach.
+
+“But,” protested Carter, “when you’re spending a hundred dollars with
+one hand, why grudge fifty cents for a parlor-car seat? If you’re going
+to be a sport, be a sport.” “And if you’ve got to be a piker,” said
+Dolly, “don’t be ashamed to be a piker. We’re not spending a hundred
+dollars because we can afford it, but because you dreamt a dream. You
+didn’t dream you were riding in parlor-cars! If you did, it’s time I
+woke you.”
+
+This day there was for them no box overlooking the finish, no club-house
+luncheon. With the other pikers, they sat in the free seats, with those
+who sat coatless and tucked their handkerchiefs inside their collars,
+and with those who mopped their perspiring countenances with rice-paper
+and marked their cards with a hat-pin. Their lunch consisted of a
+massive ham sandwich with a top dressing of mustard.
+
+Dromedary did not run until the fifth race, and the long wait, before
+they could learn their fate, was intolerable. They knew most of the
+horses, and, to pass the time, on each of the first races Dolly made
+imaginary bets. Of these mental wagers, she lost every one.
+
+“If you turn out to be as bad a guesser when you’re asleep as I am when
+I’m awake,” said Dolly, “we’re going to lose our fortune.”
+
+“I’m weakening!” declared Carter. “A hundred dollars is beginning to
+look to me like an awful lot of money. Twenty-seven dollars, and there’s
+only twenty of that left now, is mighty small capital, but twenty
+dollars plus a hundred could keep us alive for a month!”
+
+“Did you, or did you not, dream that Dromedary would win?” demanded
+Dolly sternly.
+
+“I certainly did, several times,” said Carter. “But it may be I
+was thinking of the horse. I’ve lost such a lot on him, my mind may
+have----”
+
+“Did you,” interrupted Dolly, “say if you had a hundred dollars you’d
+bet it, and did a hundred dollars walk in through the door instantly?”
+
+Carter, reassured, breathed again. “It certainly did!” he repeated.
+
+Even in his proud days, Carter had never been able to bet heavily, and
+instead of troubling the club-house commissioners with his small wagers,
+he had, in the ring, bet ready money. Moreover, he believed in the
+ring he obtained more favorable odds, and, when he won, it pleased him,
+instead of waiting until settling day for a check, to stand in a line
+and feel the real money thrust into his hand. So, when the fourth race
+started he rose and raised his hat.
+
+“The time has come,” he said.
+
+Without looking at him, Dolly nodded. She was far too tremulous to
+speak.
+
+For several weeks Dromedary had not been placed, and Carter hoped for
+odds of at least ten to one. But, when he pushed his way into the arena,
+he found so little was thought of his choice that as high as twenty
+to one was being offered, and with few takers. The fact shattered his
+confidence. Here were two hundred book-makers, trained to their calling,
+anxious at absurd odds to back their opinion that the horse he liked
+could not win. In the face of such unanimous contempt, his dream became
+fantastic, fatuous. He decided he would risk only half of his fortune.
+Then, should the horse win, he still would be passing rich, and should
+he lose, he would, at least, have all of fifty dollars.
+
+With a book-maker he wagered that sum, and then, in unhappy indecision,
+stood, in one hand clutching his ticket that called for a potential
+thousand and fifty dollars, and in the other an actual fifty. It was not
+a place for meditation. From every side men, more or less sane, swept
+upon him, jostled him, and stamped upon him, and still, struggling for a
+foothold, he swayed, hesitating. Then he became conscious that the ring
+was nearly empty, that only a few shrieking individuals still ran down
+the line. The horses were going to the post. He must decide quickly. In
+front of him the book-maker cleaned his board, and, as a final appeal,
+opposite the names of three horses chalked thirty to one. Dromedary was
+among them. Such odds could not be resisted. Carter shoved his fifty at
+the man, and to that sum added the twenty dollars still in his pocket.
+They were the last dollars he owned in the world. And though he knew
+they were his last, he was fearful lest the book-maker would refuse
+them. But, mechanically, the man passed them over his shoulder.
+
+“And twenty-one hundred to seventy,” he chanted.
+
+When Carter took his seat beside Dolly, he was quite cold. Still, Dolly
+did not speak. Out of the corner of her eyes she questioned him.
+
+“I got fifty at twenty to one,” replied Carter, “and seventy at thirty!”
+
+In alarm, Dolly turned upon him.
+
+“SEVENTY!” she gasped.
+
+Carter nodded. “All we have,” he said. “We have sixty cents left, to
+start life over again!”
+
+As though to encourage him, Dolly placed her finger on her race-card.
+
+“His colors,” she said, “are ‘green cap, green jacket, green and white
+hoops.’”
+
+Through a maze of heat, a half-mile distant, at the starting-gate,
+little spots of color moved in impatient circles. The big, good-natured
+crowd had grown silent, so silent that from the high, sun-warmed grass
+in the infield one could hear the lazy chirp of the crickets. As though
+repeating a prayer, or an incantation, Dolly’s lips were moving quickly.
+
+“Green cap,” she whispered, “green jacket, green and white hoops!”
+
+With a sharp sigh the crowd broke the silence. “They’re off!” it cried,
+and leaned forward expectant.
+
+The horses came so fast. To Carter their conduct seemed outrageous.
+It was incredible that in so short a time, at a pace so reckless, they
+would decide a question of such moment. They came bunched together,
+shifting and changing, with, through the dust, flashes of blue and
+gold and scarlet. A jacket of yellow shot out of the dust and showed in
+front; a jacket of crimson followed. So they were at the half; so they
+were at the three-quarters.
+
+The good-natured crowd began to sway, to grumble and murmur, then to
+shout in sharp staccato.
+
+“Can you see him?” begged Dolly.
+
+“No,” said Carter. “You don’t see him until they reach the stretch.”
+
+One could hear their hoofs, could see the crimson jockey draw his whip.
+At the sight, for he rode the favorite, the crowd gave a great gasp of
+concern.
+
+“Oh, you Gold Heels!” it implored.
+
+Under the whip, Gold Heels drew even with the yellow jacket; stride by
+stride, they fought it out alone.
+
+“Gold Heels!” cried the crowd.
+
+Behind them, in a curtain of dust, pounded the field. It charged in
+a flying wedge, like a troop of cavalry. Dolly, searching for a green
+jacket, saw, instead, a rainbow wave of color that, as it rose and fell,
+sprang toward her in great leaps, swallowing the track.
+
+“Gold Heels!” yelled the crowd.
+
+The field swept into the stretch. Without moving his eyes, Carter caught
+Dolly by the wrist and pointed. As though giving a signal, he shot his
+free hand into the air.
+
+“Now!” he shouted.
+
+From the curtain of dust, as lightning strikes through a cloud, darted
+a great, raw-boned, ugly chestnut. Like the Empire Express, he came
+rocking, thundering, spurning the ground. At his coming, Gold Heels, to
+the eyes of the crowd, seemed to falter, to slacken, to stand still.
+The crowd gave a great cry of amazement, a yell of disgust. The chestnut
+drew even with Gold Heels, passed him, and swept under the wire.
+Clinging to his neck was a little jockey in a green cap, green jacket,
+and hoops of green and white.
+
+Dolly’s hand was at her side, clutching the bench. Carter’s hand still
+clasped it. Neither spoke or looked at the other. For an instant, while
+the crowd, no longer so good-natured, mocked and jeered at itself, the
+two young people sat quite still, staring at the green field, at the
+white clouds rolling from the ocean. Dolly drew a long breath.
+
+“Let’s go!” she gasped. “Let’s thank him first, and then take me home!”
+
+They found Dromedary in the paddock, and thanked him, and Carter left
+Dolly with him, while he ran to collect his winnings. When he returned,
+he showed her a sheaf of yellow bills, and as they ran down the covered
+board walk to the gate, they skipped and danced.
+
+Dolly turned toward the train drawn up at the entrance.
+
+“Not with me!” shouted Carter. “We’re going home in the reddest, most
+expensive, fastest automobile I can hire!”
+
+In the “hack” line of motor-cars was one that answered those
+requirements, and they fell into it as though it were their own.
+
+“To the Night and Day Bank!” commanded Carter.
+
+With the genial democracy of the race-track, the chauffeur lifted his
+head to grin appreciatively. “That listens good to me!” he said.
+
+“I like him!” whispered Dolly. “Let’s buy him and the car.”
+
+On the way home, they bought many cars; every car they saw, that they
+liked, they bought. They bought, also, several houses, and a yacht that
+they saw from the ferry-boat. And as soon as they had deposited the most
+of their money in the bank, they went to a pawnshop in Sixth Avenue and
+bought back many possessions that they had feared they never would see
+again.
+
+When they entered the flat, the thing they first beheld was Dolly’s
+two-dollar bill.
+
+“What,” demanded Carter, with repugnance, “is that strange piece of
+paper?”
+
+Dolly examined it carefully. “I think it is a kind of money,” she said,
+“used by the lower classes.”
+
+They dined on the roof at Delmonico’s. Dolly wore the largest of
+the five hats still unsold, and Carter selected the dishes entirely
+according to which was the most expensive. Every now and again they
+would look anxiously down across the street at the bank that held their
+money. They were nervous lest it should take fire.
+
+“We can be extravagant to-night,” said Dolly, “because we owe it to
+Dromedary to celebrate. But from to-night on we must save. We’ve had an
+awful lesson. What happened to us last month must never happen again. We
+were down to a two-dollar bill. Now we have twenty-five hundred across
+the street, and you have several hundreds in your pocket. On that we can
+live easily for a year. Meanwhile, you can write ‘the’ great American
+novel without having to worry about money, or to look for a steady job.
+And then your book will come out, and you will be famous, and rich,
+and----”
+
+“Passing on from that,” interrupted Carter, “the thing of first
+importance is to get you out of that hot, beastly flat. I propose we
+start to-morrow for Cape Cod. I know a lot of fishing villages there
+where we could board and lodge for twelve dollars a week, and row and
+play tennis and live in our bathing suits.”
+
+Dolly assented with enthusiasm, and during the courses of the dinner
+they happily discussed Cape Cod from Pocasset to Yarmouth, and from
+Sandwich to Provincetown. So eager were they to escape, that Carter
+telephoned the hallman at his club to secure a cabin for the next
+afternoon on the Fall River boat. As they sat over their coffee in the
+cool breeze, with, in the air, the scent of flowers and the swing of
+music, and with, at their feet, the lights of the great city, the world
+seemed very bright.
+
+“It has been a great day,” sighed Carter. “And if I hadn’t had nervous
+prostration I would have enjoyed it. That race-course is always cool,
+and there were some fine finishes. I noticed two horses that would bear
+watching, Her Highness and Glowworm. If we weren’t leaving to-morrow,
+I’d be inclined----” Dolly regarded him with eyes of horror.
+
+“Champneys Carter!” she exclaimed. As she said it, it sounded like
+“Great Jehoshaphat!”
+
+Carter protested indignantly. “I only said,” he explained, “if I were
+following the races, I’d watch those horses. Don’t worry!” he exclaimed.
+“I know when to stop.”
+
+The next morning they took breakfast on the tiny terrace of a restaurant
+overlooking Bryant Park, where, during the first days of their
+honeymoon, they had always breakfasted. For sentimental reasons they
+now revisited it. But Dolly was eager to return at once to the flat and
+pack, and Carter seemed distraught. He explained that he had had a bad
+night.
+
+“I’m so sorry,” sympathized Dolly, “but to-night you will have a fine
+sleep going up the Sound. Any more nightmares?” she asked.
+
+“Nightmares!” exploded Carter fiercely. “Nightmares they certainly were!
+I dreamt two of the nightmares won! I saw them, all night, just as I saw
+Dromedary, Her Highness and Glowworm, winning, winning, winning!”
+
+“Those were the horses you spoke about last night,” said Dolly severely.
+“After so wonderful a day, of course you dreamt of racing, and those two
+horses were in your mind. That’s the explanation.”
+
+They returned to the flat and began, industriously, to pack. About
+twelve o’clock Carter, coming suddenly into the bedroom where Dolly
+was alone, found her reading the MORNING TELEGRAPH. It was open at the
+racing page of “past performances.”
+
+She dropped the paper guiltily. Carter kicked a hat-box out of his way
+and sat down on a trunk.
+
+“I don’t see,” he began, “why we can’t wait one more day. We’d be just
+as near the ocean at Sheepshead Bay race-track as on a Fall River boat,
+and----” He halted and frowned unhappily. “We needn’t bet more than ten
+dollars,” he begged.
+
+“Of course,” declared Dolly, “if they SHOULD win, you’ll always blame
+ME!” Carter’s eyes shone hopefully.
+
+“And,” continued Dolly, “I can’t bear to have you blame me. So----”
+
+“Get your hat!” shouted Carter, “or we’ll miss the first race.”
+
+Carter telephoned for a cab, and as they were entering it said guiltily:
+“I’ve got to stop at the bank.”
+
+“You have NOT!” announced Dolly. “That money is to keep us alive while
+you write the great American novel. I’m glad to spend another day at the
+races, and I’m willing to back your dreams as far as ten dollars, but
+for no more.”
+
+“If my dreams come true,” warned Carter, “you’ll be awfully sorry.”
+
+“Not I,” said Dolly. “I’ll merely send you to bed, and you can go on
+dreaming.”
+
+When Her Highness romped home, an easy winner, the look Dolly turned
+upon her husband was one both of fear and dismay.
+
+“I don’t like it!” she gasped. “It’s--it’s uncanny. It gives me a creepy
+feeling. It makes you seem sort of supernatural. And oh,” she cried, “if
+only I had let you bet all you had with you!”
+
+“I did,” stammered Carter, in extreme agitation. “I bet four hundred.
+I got five to one, Dolly,” he gasped, in awe; “we’ve won two thousand
+dollars.”
+
+Dolly exclaimed rapturously: “We’ll put it all in bank,” she cried.
+
+“We’ll put it all on Glowworm!” said her husband.
+
+“Champ!” begged Dolly. “Don’t push your luck. Stop while----” Carter
+shook his head.
+
+“It’s NOT luck!” he growled. “It’s a gift, it’s second sight, it’s
+prophecy. I’ve been a full-fledged clairvoyant all my life, and didn’t
+know it. Anyway, I’m a sport, and after two of my dreams breaking right,
+I’ve got to back the third one!”
+
+Glowworm was at ten to one, and at those odds the book-makers to whom he
+first applied did not care to take so large a sum as he offered. Carter
+found a book-maker named “Sol” Burbank who, at those odds, accepted his
+two thousand.
+
+When Carter returned to collect his twenty-two thousand, there was some
+little delay while Burbank borrowed a portion of it. He looked at Carter
+curiously and none too genially.
+
+“Wasn’t it you,” he asked, “that had that thirty-to-one shot yesterday
+on Dromedary?” Carter nodded somewhat guiltily. A man in the crowd
+volunteered: “And he had Her Highness in the second, too, for four
+hundred.”
+
+“You’ve made a good day,” said Burbank. “Give me a chance to get my
+money back to-morrow.
+
+“I’m sorry,” said Carter. “I’m leaving New York to-morrow.”
+
+The same scarlet car bore them back triumphant to the bank.
+
+“Twenty-two thousand dollars?” gasped Carter, “in CASH! How in the
+name of all that’s honest can we celebrate winning twenty-two thousand
+dollars? We can’t eat more than one dinner; we can’t drink more than two
+quarts of champagne--not without serious results.”
+
+“I’ll tell you what we can do!” cried Dolly excitedly. “We can sail
+to-morrow on the CAMPANIA!”
+
+“Hurrah!” shouted Carter. “We’ll have a second honey-moon. We’ll shoot
+up London and Paris. We’ll tear slices out of the map of Europe. You’ll
+ride in one motor-car, I’ll ride in another, we’ll have a maid and a
+valet in a third, and we’ll race each other all the way to Monte Carlo.
+And, there, I’ll dream of the winning numbers, and we’ll break the bank.
+When does the CAMPANIA sail?”
+
+“At noon,” said Dolly.
+
+“At eight we will be on board,” said Carter.
+
+But that night in his dreams he saw King Pepper, Confederate, and Red
+Wing each win a race. And in the morning neither the engines of the
+CAMPANIA nor the entreaties of Dolly could keep him from the race-track.
+
+“I want only six thousand,” he protested. “You can do what you like with
+the rest, but I am going to bet six thousand on the first one of those
+three to start. If he loses, I give you my word I’ll not bet another
+cent, and we’ll sail on Saturday. If he wins Out, I’ll put all I make on
+the two others.”
+
+“Can’t you see,” begged Dolly, “that your dreams are just a rehash of
+what you think during the day? You have been playing in wonderful luck,
+that’s all. Each of those horses is likely to win his race. When he does
+you will have more faith than ever in your silly dreams----”
+
+“My silly dreams,” said Carter grinning, “are carrying you to Europe,
+first class, by the next steamer.”
+
+They had been talking while on their way to the bank. When Dolly saw she
+could not alter his purpose, she made him place the nineteen thousand
+that remained, after he had taken out the six thousand, in her name. She
+then drew out the entire amount.
+
+“You told me,” said Dolly, smiling anxiously, “I could do what I liked
+with it. Maybe I have dreams also. Maybe I mean to back them.”
+
+She drove away, mysteriously refusing to tell him what she intended
+to do. When they met at luncheon, she was still much excited, still
+bristling with a concealed secret.
+
+“Did you back your dream?” asked Carter.
+
+Dolly nodded happily.
+
+“And when am I to know?”
+
+“You will read of it,” said Dolly, “to-morrow, in the morning papers.
+It’s all quite correct. My lawyers arranged it.”
+
+“Lawyers!” gasped her husband. “You’re not arranging to lock me in a
+private madhouse, are you?”
+
+“No,” laughed Dolly; “but when I told them how I intended to invest the
+money they came near putting me there.”
+
+“Didn’t they want to know how you suddenly got so rich?” asked Carter.
+
+“They did. I told them it came from my husband’s ‘books’! It was a very
+‘near’ false-hood.”
+
+“It was worse,” said Carter. “It was a very poor pun.”
+
+As in their honey-moon days they drove proudly to the track, and when
+Carter had placed Dolly in a box large enough for twenty, he pushed his
+way into the crowd around the stand of “Sol” Burbank. That veteran of
+the turf welcomed him gladly.
+
+“Coming to give me my money back?” he called.
+
+“No, to take some away,” said Carter, handing him his six thousand.
+
+Without apparently looking at it, Burbank passed it to his cashier.
+“King Pepper, twelve to six thousand,” he called.
+
+When King Pepper won, and Carter moved around the ring with eighteen
+thousand dollars in thousand and five hundred dollar bills in his fist,
+he found himself beset by a crowd of curious, eager “pikers.” They both
+impeded his operations and acted as a body-guard. Confederate was an
+almost prohibitive favorite at one to three, and in placing eighteen
+thousand that he might win six, Carter found little difficulty. When
+Confederate won, and he started with his twenty-four thousand to back
+Red Wing, the crowd now engulfed him. Men and boys who when they wagered
+five and ten dollars were risking their all, found in the sight of
+a young man offering bets in hundreds and thousands a thrilling and
+fascinating spectacle.
+
+To learn what horse he was playing and at what odds, racing touts and
+runners for other book-makers and individual speculators leaped into
+the mob that surrounded him, and then, squirming their way out, ran
+shrieking down the line. In ten minutes, through the bets of Carter and
+those that backed his luck, the odds against Red Wing were forced
+down from fifteen to one to even money. His approach was hailed by the
+book-makers either with jeers or with shouts of welcome. Those who had
+lost demanded a chance to regain their money. Those with whom he had not
+bet, found in that fact consolation, and chaffed the losers. Some curtly
+refused even the smallest part of his money.
+
+“Not with me!” they laughed. From stand to stand the layers of odds
+taunted him, or each other. “Don’t touch it, it’s tainted!” they
+shouted. “Look out, Joe, he’s the Jonah man?” Or, “Come at me again!”
+ they called. “And, once more!” they challenged as they reached for a
+thousand-dollar bill.
+
+And, when in time, each shook his head and grumbled: “That’s all I
+want,” or looked the other way, the mob around Carter jeered.
+
+“He’s fought ‘em to a stand-still!” they shouted jubilantly. In their
+eyes a man who alone was able and willing to wipe the name of a horse
+off the blackboards was a hero.
+
+To the horror of Dolly, instead of watching the horses parade past, the
+crowd gathered in front of her box and pointed and stared at her. From
+the club-house her men friends and acquaintances invaded it.
+
+“Has Carter gone mad?” they demanded. “He’s dealing out thousand-dollar
+bills like cigarettes. He’s turned the ring into a wheat Pit!”
+
+When he reached the box a sun-burned man in a sombrero blocked his way.
+
+“I’m the owner of Red Wing,” he explained, “bred him and trained him
+myself. I know he’ll be lucky if he gets the place. You’re backing him
+in thousands to WIN. What do you know about him?”
+
+“Know he will win,” said Carter.
+
+The veteran commissioner of the club stand buttonholed him. “Mr.
+Carter,” he begged, “why don’t you bet through me? I’ll give you as good
+odds as they will in that ring. You don’t want your clothes torn off you
+and your money taken from you.”
+
+“They haven’t taken such a lot of it yet,” said Carter.
+
+When Red Wing won, the crowd beneath the box, the men in the box,
+and the people standing around it, most of whom had followed Carter’s
+plunge, cheered and fell over him, to shake hands and pound him on
+the back. From every side excited photographers pointed cameras, and
+Lander’s band played: “Every Little Bit Added to What You’ve Got Makes
+Just a Little Bit More.” As he left the box to collect his money, a big
+man with a brown mustache and two smooth-shaven giants closed in around
+him, as tackles interfere for the man who has the ball. The big man took
+him by the arm. Carter shook himself free.
+
+“What’s the idea?” he demanded.
+
+“I’m Pinkerton,” said the big man genially. “You need a body-guard. If
+you’ve got an empty seat in your car, I’ll drive home with you. From
+Cavanaugh they borrowed a book-maker’s hand-bag and stuffed it with
+thousand-dollar bills. When they stepped into the car the crowd still
+surrounded them.
+
+“He’s taking it home in a trunk!” they yelled.
+
+That night the “sporting extras” of the afternoon papers gave prominence
+to the luck at the races of Champneys Carter. From Cavanaugh and the
+book-makers, the racing reporters had gathered accounts of his winnings.
+They stated that in three successive days, starting with one hundred
+dollars, he had at the end of the third day not lost a single bet, and
+that afternoon, on the last race alone, he had won sixty to seventy
+thousand dollars. With the text, they “ran” pictures of Carter at
+the track, of Dolly in her box, and of Mrs. Ingram in a tiara and
+ball-dress.
+
+Mother-in-law WILL be pleased cried Carter. In some alarm as to what
+the newspapers might say on the morrow, he ordered that in the morning a
+copy of each be sent to his room. That night in his dreams he saw clouds
+of dust-covered jackets and horses with sweating flanks, and one of them
+named Ambitious led all the rest. When he woke, he said to Dolly: “That
+horse Ambitious will win to-day.”
+
+“He can do just as he likes about THAT!” replied Dolly. “I have
+something on my mind much more important than horse-racing. To-day you
+are to learn how I spent your money. It’s to be in the morning papers.”
+
+When he came to breakfast, Dolly was on her knees. For his inspection
+she had spread the newspapers on the floor, opened at an advertisement
+that appeared in each. In the Centre of a half-page of white paper were
+the lines:
+
+     SOLD OUT IN ONE DAY!
+
+     ENTIRE FIRST EDITION
+
+     THE DEAD HEAT
+
+     BY
+
+     CHAMPNEYS CARTER
+
+     SECOND EDITION ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND
+
+“In Heaven’s name!” roared Carter. “What does this mean?”
+
+“It means,” cried Dolly tremulously, “I’m backing my dream. I’ve always
+believed in your book. Now, I’m backing it. Our lawyers sent me to an
+advertising agent. His name is Spink, and he is awfully clever. I asked
+him if he could advertise a book so as to make it sell. He said with my
+money and his ideas he could sell last year’s telephone book to people
+who did not own a telephone, and who had never learned to read. He is
+proud of his ideas. One of them was buying out the first edition. Your
+publishers told him your book was ‘waste paper,’ and that he could have
+every copy in stock for the cost of the plates. So he bought the whole
+edition. That’s how it was sold out in one day. Then we ordered a second
+edition of one hundred thousand, and they’re printing it now.
+
+“The presses have been working all night to meet the demand!”
+
+“But,” cried Carter, “there isn’t any demand!”
+
+“There will be,” said Dolly, “when five million people read our
+advertisements.”
+
+She dragged him to the window and pointed triumphantly into the street.
+
+“See that!” she said. “Mr. Spink sent them here for me to inspect.”
+
+Drawn up in a line that stretched from Fifth Avenue to Broadway were an
+army of sandwich men. On the boards they carried were the words: “Read
+‘The Dead Heat.’ Second Edition. One Hundred Thousand!” On the fence
+in front of the building going up across the street, in letters a foot
+high, Carter again read the name of his novel. In letters in size more
+modest, but in colors more defiant, it glared at him from ash-cans and
+barrels.
+
+“How much does this cost?” he gasped.
+
+“It cost every dollar you had in bank,” said Dolly, “and before we are
+through it will cost you twice as much more. Mr. Spink is only waiting
+to hear from me before he starts spending fifty thousand dollars; that’s
+only half of what you won on Red Wing. I’m only waiting for you to make
+me out a check before I tell Spink to start spending it.”
+
+In a dazed state Carter drew a check for fifty thousand dollars and
+meekly handed it to his wife. They carried it themselves to the office
+of Mr. Spink. On their way, on every side they saw evidences of his
+handiwork. On walls, on scaffolding, on bill-boards were advertisements
+of “The Dead Heat.” Over Madison Square a huge kite as large as a
+Zeppelin air-ship painted the name of the book against the sky, on
+“dodgers” it floated in the air, on handbills it stared up from the
+gutters.
+
+Mr. Spink was a nervous young man with a bald head and eye-glasses.
+He grasped the check as a general might welcome fifty thousand fresh
+troops.
+
+“Reinforcements!” he cried. “Now, watch me. Now I can do things that are
+big, national, Napoleonic. We can’t get those books bound inside of a
+week, but meanwhile orders will be pouring in, people will be growing
+crazy for it. Every man, woman, and child in Greater New York will want
+a copy. I’ve sent out fifty boys dressed as jockeys on horseback to ride
+neck and neck up and down every avenue. ‘The Dead Heat’ is printed on
+the saddle-cloth. Half of them have been arrested already. It’s a little
+idea of my own.”
+
+“But,” protested Carter, “it’s not a racing story, it’s a detective
+story!”
+
+“The devil it is!” gasped Spink. “But what’s the difference!” he
+exclaimed. “They’ve got to buy it anyway. They’d buy it if it was a
+cook-book. And, I say,” he cried delightedly, “that’s great press work
+you’re doing for the book at the races! The papers are full of you this
+morning, and every man who reads about your luck at the track will see
+your name as the author of ‘The Dead Heat,’ and will rush to buy the
+book. He’ll think ‘The Dead Heat’ is a guide to the turf!”
+
+When Carter reached the track he found his notoriety had preceded him.
+Ambitious did not run until the fourth race, and until then, as he sat
+in his box, an eager crowd surged below. He had never known such
+popularity. The crowd had read the newspapers, and such head-lines as
+“He Cannot Lose!” “Young Carter Wins $70,000!” “Boy Plunger Wins Again!”
+“Carter Makes Big Killing!” “The Ring Hit Hard!” “The Man Who Cannot
+Lose!” “Carter Beats Book-makers!” had whetted their curiosity and
+filled many with absolute faith in his luck. Men he had not seen in
+years grasped him by the hand and carelessly asked if he could tell of
+something good. Friends old and new begged him to dine with them, to
+immediately have a drink with them, at least to “try” a cigar. Men who
+protested they had lost their all begged for just a hint which would
+help them to come out even, and every one, without exception, assured
+him he was going to buy his latest book.
+
+“I tried to get it last night at a dozen news-stands,” many of them
+said, “but they told me the entire edition was exhausted.”
+
+The crowd of hungry-eyed race-goers waiting below the box, and watching
+Carter’s every movement, distressed Dolly.
+
+“I hate it!” she cried. “They look at you like a lot of starved dogs
+begging for a bone. Let’s go home; we don’t want to make any more money,
+and we may lose what we have. And I want it all to advertise the book.”
+
+“If you’re not careful,” said Carter, “some one will buy that book and
+read it, and then you and Spink will have to take shelter in a cyclone
+cellar.”
+
+When he arose to make his bet on Ambitious, his friends from the club
+stand and a half-dozen of Pinkerton’s men closed in around him and in a
+flying wedge pushed into the ring. The news-papers had done their work,
+and he was instantly surrounded by a hungry, howling mob. In comparison
+with the one of the previous day, it was as a foot-ball scrimmage to a
+run on a bank. When he made his first wager and the crowd learned
+the name of the horse, it broke with a yell into hundreds of flying
+missiles which hurled themselves at the book-makers. Under their attack,
+as on the day before, Ambitious receded to even money. There was hardly
+a person at the track who did not back the luck of the man who “could
+not lose.” And when Ambitious won easily, it was not the horse or the
+jockey that was cheered, but the young man in the box.
+
+In New York the extras had already announced that he was again lucky,
+and when Dolly and Carter reached the bank they found the entire staff
+on hand to receive him and his winnings. They amounted to a sum so
+magnificent that Carter found for the rest of their lives the interest
+would furnish Dolly and himself an income upon which they could live
+modestly and well.
+
+A distinguished-looking, white-haired official of the bank congratulated
+Carter warmly. “Should you wish to invest some of this,” he said, “I
+should be glad to advise you. My knowledge in that direction may be
+wider than your own.”
+
+Carter murmured his thanks. The white-haired gentleman lowered his
+voice. “On certain other subjects,” he continued, “you know many things
+of which I am totally ignorant. Could you tell me,” he asked carelessly,
+“who will win the Suburban to-morrow?”
+
+Carter frowned mysteriously. “I can tell you better in the morning,” he
+said. “It looks like Beldame, with Proper and First Mason within call.”
+
+The white-haired man showed his surprise and also that his ignorance was
+not as profound as he suggested.
+
+“I thought the Keene entry----” he ventured.
+
+“I know,” said Carter doubtfully. “If it were for a mile, I would say
+Delhi, but I don’t think he can last the distance. In the morning I’ll
+wire you.”
+
+As they settled back in their car, Carter took both of Dolly’s hands
+in his. “So far as money goes,” he said, “we are independent of your
+mother--independent of my books; and I want to make you a promise. I
+want to promise you that, no matter what I dream in the future, I’ll
+never back another horse.” Dolly gave a gasp of satisfaction.
+
+“And what’s more,” added Carter hastily, “not another dollar can you
+risk in backing my books. After this, they’ve got to stand or fall on
+their legs!”
+
+“Agreed!” cried Dolly. “Our plunging days are over.”
+
+When they reached the flat they found waiting for Carter the junior
+partner of a real publishing house. He had a blank contract, and he
+wanted to secure the right to publish Carter’s next book.
+
+“I have a few short stories----” suggested Carter.
+
+Collections of short stories, protested the visitor truthfully, “do
+not sell. We would prefer another novel on the same lines as ‘The Dead
+Heat.’”
+
+“Have you read ‘The Dead Heat’?” asked Carter.
+
+“I have not,” admitted the publisher, “but the next book by the same
+author is sure to----. We will pay in advance of royalties fifteen
+thousand dollars.”
+
+“Could you put that in writing?” asked Carter. When the publisher was
+leaving he said:
+
+“I see your success in literature is equaled by your success at the
+races. Could you tell me what will win the Suburban?”
+
+“I will send you a wire in the MORNING,” said Carter.
+
+They had arranged to dine with some friends and later to visit a musical
+comedy. Carter had changed his clothes, and, while he was waiting for
+Dolly to dress, was reclining in a huge arm-chair. The heat of the day,
+the excitement, and the wear on his nerves caused his head to sink back,
+his eyes to close, and his limbs to relax.
+
+When, by her entrance, Dolly woke him, he jumped up in some confusion.
+
+“You’ve been asleep,” she mocked.
+
+“Worse!” said Carter. “I’ve been dreaming! Shall I tell you who is going
+to win the Suburban?”
+
+“Champneys!” cried Dolly in alarm.
+
+“My dear Dolly,” protested her husband, “I promised to stop betting. I
+did not promise to stop sleeping.”
+
+“Well,” sighed Dolly, with relief, “as long as it stops at that. Delhi
+will win,” she added. “Delhi will not,” said Carter. “This is how they
+will finish----” He scribbled three names on a piece of paper which Dolly
+read.
+
+“But that,” she said, “is what you told the gentleman at the bank.”
+
+Carter stared at her blankly and in some embarrassment.
+
+“You see!” cried Dolly, “what you think when you’re awake, you dream
+when you’re asleep. And you had a run of luck that never happened before
+and could never happen again.”
+
+Carter received her explanation with reluctance. “I wonder,” he said.
+
+On arriving at the theatre they found their host had reserved a
+stage-box, and as there were but four in their party, and as, when they
+entered, the house lights were up, their arrival drew upon them the
+attention both of those in the audience and of those on the stage. The
+theatre was crowded to its capacity, and in every part were people who
+were habitual race-goers, as well as many racing men who had come to
+town for the Suburban. By these, as well as by many others who for
+three days had seen innumerable pictures of him, Carter was instantly
+recognized. To the audience and to the performers the man who always won
+was of far greater interest than what for the three-hundredth night was
+going forward on the stage. And when the leading woman, Blanche Winter,
+asked the comedian which he would rather be, “The Man Who Broke the
+Bank at Monte Carlo or the Man Who Can Not Lose?” she gained from the
+audience an easy laugh and from the chorus an excited giggle.
+
+When, at the end of the act, Carter went into the lobby to smoke, he was
+so quickly surrounded that he sought refuge on Broadway. From there, the
+crowd still following him, he was driven back into his box. Meanwhile,
+the interest shown in him had not been lost upon the press agent of the
+theatre, and he at once telephoned to the newspaper offices that Plunger
+Carter, the book-maker breaker, was at that theatre, and if that the
+newspapers wanted a chance to interview him on the probable out-come of
+the classic handicap to be run on the morrow, he, the press agent, would
+unselfishly assist them. In answer to these hurry calls, reporters of
+the Ten o’Clock Club assembled in the foyer. How far what later followed
+was due to their presence and to the efforts of the press agent only
+that gentleman can tell. It was in the second act that Miss Blanche
+Winter sang her topical song. In it she advised the audience when
+anxious to settle any question of personal or national interest to “Put
+it up to the Man in the Moon.’” This night she introduced a verse in
+which she told of her desire to know which horse on the morrow would win
+the Suburban, and, in the chorus, expressed her determination to “Put it
+up to the Man in the Moon.”
+
+Instantly from the back of the house a voice called: “Why don’t you put
+it up to the Man in the Box?” Miss Winter laughed--the audience laughed;
+all eyes were turned toward Carter. As though the idea pleased them,
+from different parts of the house people applauded heartily. In
+embarrassment, Carter shoved back his chair and pulled the curtain
+of the box between him and the audience. But he was not so easily to
+escape. Leaving the orchestra to continue unheeded with the prelude to
+the next verse, Miss Winter walked slowly and deliberately toward him,
+smiling mischievously. In burlesque entreaty, she held out her arms.
+She made a most appealing and charming picture, and of that fact she was
+well aware. In a voice loud enough to reach every part of the house, she
+addressed herself to Carter:
+
+“Won’t you tell ME?” she begged.
+
+Carter, blushing unhappily, shrugged his shoulders in apology.
+
+With a wave of her hand Miss Winter designated the audience. “Then,” she
+coaxed, reproachfully, “won’t you tell THEM?”
+
+Again, instantly, with a promptness and unanimity that sounded
+suspiciously as though it came from ushers well rehearsed, several voice
+echoed her petition: “Give us all a chance!” shouted one. “Don’t keep
+the good things to yourself!” reproached another. “I want to get rich,
+TOO!” wailed a third. In his heart, Carter prayed they would choke. But
+the audience, so far from resenting the interruptions, encouraged them,
+and Carter’s obvious discomfort added to its amusement. It proceeded to
+assail him with applause, with appeals, with commands to “speak up.”
+
+The hand-clapping became general--insistent. The audience would not
+be denied. Carter turned to Dolly. In the recesses of the box she
+was enjoying his predicament. His friends also were laughing at him.
+Indignant at their desertion, Carter grinned vindictively. “All right,”
+ he muttered over his shoulder. “Since you think it’s funny, I’ll show
+you!” He pulled his pencil from his watch-chain and, spreading his
+programme on the ledge of the box, began to write.
+
+From the audience there rose a murmur of incredulity, of surprise, of
+excited interest. In the rear of the house the press agent, after one
+startled look, doubled up in an ecstasy of joy. “We’ve landed him!” he
+gasped. “We’ve landed him. He’s going to fall for it!”
+
+Dolly frantically clasped her husband by the coat-tail.
+
+“Champ!” she implored, “what are you doing?”
+
+Quite calmly, quite confidently, Carter rose. Leaning forward with a nod
+and a smile, he presented the programme to the beautiful Miss Winter.
+That lady all but snatched at it. The spot-light was full in her eyes.
+Turning her back that she might the more easily read, she stood for a
+moment, her pretty figure trembling with eagerness, her pretty eyes
+bent upon the programme. The house had grown suddenly still, and with
+an excited gesture, the leader of the orchestra commanded the music to
+silence. A man, bursting with impatience, broke the tense quiet. “Read
+it!” he shouted.
+
+In a frightened voice that in the sudden hush held none of its usual
+confidence, Miss Winter read slowly: “The favorite cannot last the
+distance. Will lead for the mile and give way to Beldame. Proper takes
+the place. First Mason will show. Beldame will win by a length.”
+
+Before she had ceased reading, a dozen men had struggled to their
+feet and a hundred voice were roaring at her. “Read that again!” the
+chorused. Once more Miss Winter read the message, but before she had
+finished half of those in the front rows were scrambling from their
+seats and racing up the aisles. Already the reporters were ahead of
+them, and in the neighborhood not one telephone booth was empty. Within
+five minutes, in those hotels along the White Way where sporting men
+are wont to meet, betting commissioners and hand-book men were suddenly
+assaulted by breathless gentlemen, some in evening dress, some without
+collars, and some without hats, but all with money to bet against
+the favorite. And, an hour later, men, bent under stacks of newspaper
+“extras,” were vomited from the subway stations into the heart of
+Broadway, and in raucous tones were shrieking, “Winner of the Suburban,”
+ sixteen hours before that race was run. That night to every big
+newspaper office from Maine to California, was flashed the news that
+Plunger Carter, in a Broadway theatre, had announced that the favorite
+for the Suburban would be beaten, and, in order, had named the three
+horses that would first finish.
+
+Up and down Broadway, from rathskellers to roof-gardens, in cafes
+and lobster palaces, on the corners of the cross-roads, in clubs and
+all-night restaurants, Carter’s tip was as a red rag to a bull.
+
+Was the boy drunk, they demanded, or had his miraculous luck turned his
+head? Otherwise, why would he so publicly utter a prophecy that on the
+morrow must certainly smother him with ridicule. The explanations
+were varied. The men in the clubs held he was driven by a desire for
+notoriety, the men in the street that he was more clever than they
+guessed, and had made the move to suit his own book, to alter the odds
+to his own advantage. Others frowned mysteriously. With superstitious
+faith in his luck, they pointed to his record. “Has he ever lost a bet?
+How do WE know what HE knows?” they demanded. “Perhaps it’s fixed and he
+knows it!”
+
+The “wise” ones howled in derision. “A Suburban FIXED!” they retorted.
+“You can fix ONE jockey, you can fix TWO; but you can’t fix sixteen
+jockeys! You can’t fix Belmont, you can’t fix Keene. There’s nothing in
+his picking Beldame, but only a crazy man would pick the horse for the
+place and to show, and shut out the favorite! The boy ought to be in
+Matteawan.”
+
+Still undisturbed, still confident to those to whom he had promised
+them, Carter sent a wire. Nor did he forget his old enemy, “Sol”
+ Burbank. “If you want to get some of the money I took,” he telegraphed,
+“wipe out the Belmont entry and take all they offer on Delhi. He cannot
+win.”
+
+And that night, when each newspaper called him up at his flat, he made
+the same answer. “The three horses will finish as I said. You can state
+that I gave the information as I did as a sort of present to the people
+of New York City.”
+
+In the papers the next morning “Carter’s Tip” was the front-page
+feature. Even those who never in the racing of horses felt any concern
+could not help but take in the outcome of this one a curious interest.
+The audacity of the prophecy, the very absurdity of it, presupposing, as
+it did, occult power, was in itself amusing. And when the curtain rose
+on the Suburban it was evident that to thousands what the Man Who Could
+Not Lose had foretold was a serious and inspired utterance.
+
+This time his friends gathered around him, not to benefit by his advice,
+but to protect him. “They’ll mob you!” they warned. “They’ll tear the
+clothes off your back. Better make your getaway now.”
+
+Dolly, with tears in her eyes, sat beside him. Every now and again she
+touched his hand. Below his box, as around a newspaper office on the
+night when a president is elected, the people crushed in a turbulent
+mob. Some mocked and jeered, some who on his tip had risked their every
+dollar, hailed him hopefully. On every side policemen, fearful of coming
+trouble, hemmed him in. Carter was bored extremely, heartily sorry
+he had on the night before given way to what he now saw as a perverse
+impulse. But he still was confident, still undismayed.
+
+To all eyes, except those of Dolly, he was of all those at the track the
+least concerned. To her he turned and, in a low tone, spoke swiftly. “I
+am so sorry,” he begged. “But, indeed, indeed, I can’t lose. You must
+have faith in me.”
+
+“In you, yes,” returned Dolly in a whisper, “but in your dreams, no!”
+
+The horses were passing on their way to the post. Carter brought his
+face close to hers.
+
+“I’m going to break my promise,” he said, “and make one more bet, this
+one with you. I bet you a kiss that I’m right.”
+
+Dolly, holding back her tears, smiled mournfully. “Make it a hundred,”
+ she said.
+
+Half of the forty thousand at the track had backed Delhi, the other
+half, following Carter’s luck and his confidence in proclaiming his
+convictions, had backed Beldame. Many hundred had gone so far as to bet
+that the three horses he had named would finish as he had foretold. But,
+in spite of Carter’s tip, Delhi still was the favorite, and when the
+thousands saw the Keene polka-dots leap to the front, and by two lengths
+stay there, for the quarter, the half, and for the three-quarters, the
+air was shattered with jubilant, triumphant yells. And then suddenly,
+with the swiftness of a moving picture, in the very moment of his
+victory, Beldame crept up on the favorite, drew alongside, drew ahead
+passed him, and left him beaten. It was at the mile.
+
+The night before a man had risen in a theatre and said to two thousand
+people: “The favorite will lead for the mile, and give way to Beldame.”
+ Could they have believed him, the men who now cursed themselves might
+for the rest of their lives have lived upon their winnings. Those who
+had followed his prophecy faithfully, superstitiously, now shrieked in
+happy, riotous self-congratulation. “At the MILE!” they yelled. “He TOLD
+you, at the MILE!” They turned toward Carter and shook Panama hats at
+him. “Oh, you Carter!” they shrieked lovingly.
+
+It was more than a race the crowd was watching now, it was the working
+out of a promise. And when Beldame stood off Proper’s rush, and Proper
+fell to second, and First Mason followed three lengths in the rear, and
+in that order they flashed under the wire, the yells were not that a
+race had been won, but that a prophecy had been fulfilled.
+
+Of the thousands that cheered Carter and fell upon him and indeed did
+tear his clothes off his back, one of his friends alone was sufficiently
+unselfish to think of what it might, mean to Carter.
+
+“Champ!” roared his friend, pounding him on both shoulders. “You old
+wizard! I win ten thousand! How much do you win?”
+
+Carter cast a swift glance at Dolly. He said, “I win much more than
+that.”
+
+And Dolly, raising her eyes to his, nodded and smiled contentedly.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Man Who Could Not Lose, by
+Richard Harding Davis
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+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The Man Who Could Not Lose, by Richard Harding Davis
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
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+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
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+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
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+
+Project Gutenberg's The Man Who Could Not Lose, by Richard Harding Davis
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Man Who Could Not Lose
+
+Author: Richard Harding Davis
+
+Release Date: October 23, 2008 [EBook #1760]
+Last Updated: September 26, 2016
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN WHO COULD NOT LOSE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Aaron Cannon, and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE MAN WHO COULD NOT LOSE
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      by Richard Harding Davis
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Carters had married in haste and refused to repent at leisure. So
+      blindly were they in love, that they considered their marriage their
+      greatest asset. The rest of the world, as represented by mutual friends,
+      considered it the only thing that could be urged against either of them.
+      While single, each had been popular. As a bachelor, young &ldquo;Champ&rdquo; Carter
+      had filled his modest place acceptably. Hostesses sought him for dinners
+      and week-end parties, men of his own years, for golf and tennis, and young
+      girls liked him because when he talked to one of them he never talked of
+      himself, or let his eyes wander toward any other girl. He had been brought
+      up by a rich father in an expensive way, and the rich father had then died
+      leaving Champneys alone in the world, with no money, and with even a few
+      of his father&rsquo;s debts. These debts of honor the son, ever since leaving
+      Yale, had been paying off. It had kept him very poor, for Carter had
+      elected to live by his pen, and, though he wrote very carefully and
+      slowly, the editors of the magazines had been equally careful and slow in
+      accepting what he wrote.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With an income so uncertain that the only thing that could be said of it
+      with certainty was that it was too small to support even himself, Carter
+      should not have thought of matrimony. Nor, must it be said to his credit,
+      did he think of it until the girl came along that he wanted to marry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The trouble with Dolly Ingram was her mother. Her mother was a really
+      terrible person. She was quite impossible. She was a social leader, and of
+      such importance that visiting princes and society reporters, even among
+      themselves, did not laugh at her. Her visiting list was so small that she
+      did not keep a social secretary, but, it was said, wrote her invitations
+      herself. Stylites on his pillar was less exclusive. Nor did he take his
+      exalted but lonely position with less sense of humor. When Ingram died and
+      left her many millions to dispose of absolutely as she pleased, even to
+      the allowance she should give their daughter, he left her with but one
+      ambition unfulfilled. That was to marry her Dolly to an English duke.
+      Hungarian princes, French marquises, Italian counts, German barons, Mrs.
+      Ingram could not see. Her son-in-law must be a duke. She had her eyes on
+      two, one somewhat shopworn, and the other a bankrupt; and in training, she
+      had one just coming of age. Already she saw her self a sort of a dowager
+      duchess by marriage, discussing with real dowager duchesses the way to
+      bring up teething earls and viscounts. For three years in Europe Mrs.
+      Ingram had been drilling her daughter for the part she intended her to
+      play. But, on returning to her native land, Dolly, who possessed all the
+      feelings, thrills, and heart-throbs of which her mother was ignorant,
+      ungratefully fell deeply in love with Champneys Carter, and he with her.
+      It was always a question of controversy between them as to which had first
+      fallen in love with the other. As a matter of history, honors were even.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He first saw her during a thunder storm, in the paddock at the races,
+      wearing a rain-coat with the collar turned up and a Panama hat with the
+      brim turned down. She was talking, in terms of affectionate familiarity,
+      with Cuthbert&rsquo;s two-year-old, The Scout. The Scout had just lost a race by
+      a nose, and Dolly was holding the nose against her cheek and comforting
+      him. The two made a charming picture, and, as Carter stumbled upon it and
+      halted, the race-horse lowered his eyes and seemed to say: &ldquo;Wouldn&rsquo;t YOU
+      throw a race for this?&rdquo; And the girl raised her eyes and seemed to say:
+      &ldquo;What a nice-looking, bright-looking young man! Why don&rsquo;t I know who you
+      are?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      So, Carter ran to find Cuthbert, and told him The Scout had gone lame.
+      When, on their return, Miss Ingram refused to loosen her hold on The
+      Scout&rsquo;s nose, Cuthbert apologetically mumbled Carter&rsquo;s name, and in some
+      awe Miss Ingram&rsquo;s name, and then, to his surprise, both young people lost
+      interest in The Scout, and wandered away together into the rain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After an hour, when they parted at the club stand, for which Carter could
+      not afford a ticket, he asked wistfully: &ldquo;Do you often come racing?&rdquo; and
+      Miss Ingram said: &ldquo;Do you mean, am I coming to-morrow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do!&rdquo; said Carter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then, why didn&rsquo;t you say that?&rdquo; inquired Miss Ingram. &ldquo;Otherwise I
+      mightn&rsquo;t have come. I have the Holland House coach for to-morrow, and, if
+      you&rsquo;ll join us, I&rsquo;ll save a place for you, and you can sit in our box.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve lived so long abroad,&rdquo; she explained, &ldquo;that I&rsquo;m afraid of not being
+      simple and direct like other American girls. Do you think I&rsquo;ll get on here
+      at home?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you get on with every one else as well as you&rsquo;ve got on with me,&rdquo; said
+      Carter morosely, &ldquo;I will shoot myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Miss Ingram smiled thoughtfully. &ldquo;At eleven, then,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;in front of
+      the Holland House.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carter walked away with a flurried, heated suffocation around his heart
+      and a joyous lightness in his feet. Of the first man he met he demanded,
+      &ldquo;Who was the beautiful girl in the rain-coat?&rdquo; And when the man told him,
+      Carter left him without speaking. For she was quite the richest girl in
+      America. But the next day that fault seemed to distress her so little that
+      Carter, also, refused to allow it to rest on his conscience, and they were
+      very happy. And each saw that they were happy because they were together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The ridiculous mother was not present at the races, but after Carter began
+      to call at their house and was invited to dinner, Mrs. Ingram received him
+      with her habitual rudeness. As an impediment in the success of her
+      ambition she never considered him. As a boy friend of her daughter&rsquo;s, she
+      classed him with &ldquo;her&rdquo; lawyer and &ldquo;her&rdquo; architect and a little higher than
+      the &ldquo;person&rdquo; who arranged the flowers. Nor, in her turn, did Dolly
+      consider her mother; for within two months another matter of controversy
+      between Dolly and Carter was as to who had first proposed to the other.
+      Carter protested there never had been any formal proposal, that from the
+      first they had both taken it for granted that married they would be. But
+      Dolly insisted that because he had been afraid of her money, or her
+      mother, he had forced her to propose to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You could not have loved me very much,&rdquo; she complained, &ldquo;if you&rsquo;d let a
+      little thing like money make you hesitate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a little thing,&rdquo; suggested Carter. &ldquo;They say it&rsquo;s several
+      millions, and it happens to be YOURS. If it were MINE, now!&rdquo; &ldquo;Money,&rdquo; said
+      Dolly sententiously, &ldquo;is given people to make them happy, not to make them
+      miserable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wait until I sell my stories to the magazines,&rdquo; said Carter, &ldquo;and then I
+      will be independent and can support you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The plan did not strike Dolly as one likely to lead to a hasty marriage.
+      But he was sensitive about his stories, and she did not wish to hurt his
+      feelings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s get married first,&rdquo; she suggested, &ldquo;and then I can BUY you a
+      magazine. We&rsquo;ll call it CARTER&rsquo;S MAGAZINE and we will print nothing in it
+      but your stories. Then we can laugh at the editors!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not half as loud as they will,&rdquo; said Carter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With three thousand dollars in bank and three stories accepted and
+      seventeen still to hear from, and with Dolly daily telling him that it was
+      evident he did not love her, Carter decided they were ready, hand in hand,
+      to leap into the sea of matrimony. His interview on the subject with Mrs.
+      Ingram was most painful. It lasted during the time it took her to walk out
+      of her drawing-room to the foot of her staircase. She spoke to herself,
+      and the only words of which Carter was sure were &ldquo;preposterous&rdquo; and
+      &ldquo;intolerable insolence.&rdquo; Later in the morning she sent a note to his flat,
+      forbidding him not only her daughter, but the house in which her daughter
+      lived, and even the use of the United States mails and the New York
+      telephone wires. She described his conduct in words that, had they come
+      from a man, would have afforded Carter every excuse for violent exercise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Immediately in the wake of the note arrived Dolly, in tears, and carrying
+      a dressing-case.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have left mother!&rdquo; she announced. &ldquo;And I have her car downstairs, and a
+      clergyman in it, unless he has run away. He doesn&rsquo;t want to marry us,
+      because he&rsquo;s afraid mother will stop supporting his flower mission. You
+      get your hat and take me where he can marry us. No mother can talk about
+      the man I love the way mother talked about you, and think I won&rsquo;t marry
+      him the same day!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carter, with her mother&rsquo;s handwriting still red before his eyes, and his
+      self-love shaken with rage flourished the letter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And no mother,&rdquo; he shouted, &ldquo;can call ME a &lsquo;fortune-hunter&rsquo; and a
+      &lsquo;cradle-robber&rsquo; and think I&rsquo;ll make good by marrying her daughter! Not
+      until she BEGS me to!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dolly swept toward him like a summer storm. Her eyes were wet and
+      flashing. &ldquo;Until WHO begs you to?&rdquo; she demanded. &ldquo;WHO are you marrying;
+      mother or me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I marry you,&rdquo; cried Carter, frightened but also greatly excited, &ldquo;your
+      mother won&rsquo;t give you a penny!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And that,&rdquo; taunted Dolly, perfectly aware that she was ridiculous, &ldquo;is
+      why you won&rsquo;t marry me!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For an instant, long enough to make her blush with shame and happiness,
+      Carter grinned at her. &ldquo;Now, just for that,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t kiss you,
+      and I WILL marry you!&rdquo; But, as a matter of fact, he DID kiss her. Then he
+      gazed happily around his small sitting-room. &ldquo;Make yourself at home here,&rdquo;
+       he directed, &ldquo;while I pack my bag.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I MEAN to make myself very much at home here,&rdquo; said Dolly joyfully, &ldquo;for
+      the rest of my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      From the recesses of the flat Carter called: &ldquo;The rent&rsquo;s paid only till
+      September. After that we live in a hall bedroom and cook on a gas-stove.
+      And that&rsquo;s no idle jest, either.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Fearing the publicity of the City Hall license bureau, they released the
+      clergyman, much to the relief of that gentleman, and told the chauffeur to
+      drive across the State line into Connecticut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the last time we can borrow your mother&rsquo;s car,&rdquo; said Carter, &ldquo;and
+      we&rsquo;d better make it go as far as we can.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was one of those days in May. Blue was the sky and sunshine was in the
+      air, and in the park little girls from the tenements, in white, were
+      playing they were queens. Dolly wanted to kidnap two of them for
+      bridesmaids. In Harlem they stopped at a jeweler&rsquo;s shop, and Carter got
+      out and bought a wedding-ring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the Bronx were dogwood blossoms and leaves of tender green and beds of
+      tulips, and along the Boston Post Road, on their right, the Sound flashed
+      in the sunlight; and on their left, gardens, lawns, and orchards ran with
+      the road, and the apple trees were masses of pink and white.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whenever a car approached from the rear, Carter pretended it was Mrs.
+      Ingram coming to prevent the elopement, and Dolly clung to him. When the
+      car had passed, she forgot to stop clinging to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In Greenwich Village they procured a license, and a magistrate married
+      them, and they were a little frightened and greatly happy and, they both
+      discovered simultaneously, outrageously hungry. So they drove through
+      Bedford Village to South Salem, and lunched at the Horse and Hounds Inn,
+      on blue and white china, in the same room where Major Andre was once a
+      prisoner. And they felt very sorry for Major Andre, and for everybody who
+      had not been just married that morning. And after lunch they sat outside
+      in the garden and fed lumps of sugar to a charming collie and cream to a
+      fat gray cat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They decided to start housekeeping in Carter&rsquo;s flat, and so turned back to
+      New York, this time following the old coach road through North Castle to
+      White Plains, across to Tarrytown, and along the bank of the Hudson into
+      Riverside Drive. Millions and millions of friendly folk, chiefly
+      nurse-maids and traffic policemen, waved to them, and for some reason
+      smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The joke of it is,&rdquo; declared Carter, &ldquo;they don&rsquo;t know! The most wonderful
+      event of the century has just passed into history. We are married, and
+      nobody knows!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      But when the car drove away from in front of Carter&rsquo;s door, they saw on
+      top of it two old shoes and a sign reading: &ldquo;We have just been married.&rdquo;
+       While they had been at luncheon, the chauffeur had risen to the occasion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;After all,&rdquo; said Carter soothingly, &ldquo;he meant no harm. And it&rsquo;s the only
+      thing about our wedding yet that seems legal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Three months later two very unhappy young people faced starvation in the
+      sitting-room of Carter&rsquo;s flat. Gloom was written upon the countenance of
+      each, and the heat and the care that comes when one desires to live, and
+      lacks the wherewithal to fulfill that desire, had made them pallid and had
+      drawn black lines under Dolly&rsquo;s eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Ingram had played her part exactly as her dearest friends had said
+      she would. She had sent to Carter&rsquo;s flat, seven trunks filled with Dolly&rsquo;s
+      clothes, eighteen hats, and another most unpleasant letter. In this, on
+      the sole condition that Dolly would at once leave her husband, she offered
+      to forgive and to support her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To this Dolly composed eleven scornful answers, but finally decided that
+      no answer at all was the most scornful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She and Carter then proceeded joyfully to waste his three thousand dollars
+      with that contempt for money with which on a honey-moon it should always
+      be regarded. When there was no more, Dolly called upon her mother&rsquo;s
+      lawyers and inquired if her father had left her anything in her own right.
+      The lawyers regretted he had not, but having loved Dolly since she was
+      born, offered to advance her any money she wanted. They said they felt
+      sure her mother would &ldquo;relent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;SHE may,&rdquo; said Dolly haughtily. &ldquo;I WON&rsquo;T! And my husband can give me all
+      I need. I only wanted something of my own, because I&rsquo;m going to make him a
+      surprise present of a new motor-car. The one we are using now does not
+      suit us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This was quite true, as the one they were then using ran through the
+      subway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As summer approached, Carter had suddenly awakened to the fact that he
+      soon would be a pauper, and cut short the honey-moon. They returned to the
+      flat, and he set forth to look for a position. Later, while still looking
+      for it, he spoke of it as a &ldquo;job.&rdquo; He first thought he would like to be an
+      assistant editor of a magazine. But he found editors of magazines anxious
+      to employ new and untried assistants, especially in June, were very few.
+      On the contrary, they explained they were retrenching and cutting down
+      expenses&mdash;they meant they had discharged all office boys who received
+      more than three dollars a week. They further &ldquo;retrenched,&rdquo; by taking a
+      mean advantage of Carter&rsquo;s having called upon them in person, by handing
+      him three or four of his stories&mdash;but by this he saved his
+      postage-stamps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Each day, when he returned to the flat, Dolly, who always expected each
+      editor would hastily dust off his chair and offer it to her brilliant
+      husband, would smile excitedly and gasp, &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; and Carter would throw
+      the rejected manuscripts on the table and say: &ldquo;At least, I have not
+      returned empty-handed.&rdquo; Then they would discover a magazine that neither
+      they nor any one else knew existed, and they would hurriedly readdress the
+      manuscripts to that periodical, and run to post them at the letter-box on
+      the corner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any one of them, if ACCEPTED,&rdquo; Carter would point out, &ldquo;might bring us in
+      twenty-five dollars. A story of mine once sold for forty; so to-night we
+      can afford to dine at a restaurant where wine is NOT &lsquo;included.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Fortunately, they never lost their sense of humor. Otherwise the narrow
+      confines of the flat, the evil smells that rose from the baked streets,
+      the greasy food of Italian and Hungarian restaurants, and the
+      ever-haunting need of money might have crushed their youthful spirits. But
+      in time even they found that one, still less two, cannot exist exclusively
+      on love and the power to see the bright side of things&mdash;especially
+      when there is no bright side. They had come to the point where they must
+      borrow money from their friends, and that, though there were many who
+      would have opened their safes to them, they had agreed was the one thing
+      they would not do, or they must starve. The alternative was equally
+      distasteful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Carter had struggled earnestly to find a job. But his inexperience and the
+      season of the year were against him. No newspaper wanted a dramatic critic
+      when the only shows in town had been running three months, and on roof
+      gardens; nor did they want a &ldquo;cub&rdquo; reporter when veterans were being &ldquo;laid
+      off&rdquo; by the dozens. Nor were his services desired as a private secretary,
+      a taxicab driver, an agent to sell real estate or automobiles or stocks.
+      As no one gave him a chance to prove his unfitness for any of these
+      callings, the fact that he knew nothing of any of them did not greatly
+      matter. At these rebuffs Dolly was distinctly pleased. She argued they
+      proved he was intended to pursue his natural career as an author.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That their friends might know they were poor did not affect her, but she
+      did not want them to think by his taking up any outside &ldquo;job&rdquo; that they
+      were poor because as a literary genius he was a failure. She believed in
+      his stories. She wanted every one else to believe in them. Meanwhile, she
+      assisted him in so far as she could by pawning the contents of five of the
+      seven trunks, by learning to cook on a &ldquo;Kitchenette,&rdquo; and to laundry her
+      handkerchiefs and iron them on the looking-glass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They faced each other across the breakfast-table. It was only nine
+      o&rsquo;clock, but the sun beat into the flat with the breath of a furnace, and
+      the air was foul and humid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I tell you,&rdquo; Carter was saying fiercely, &ldquo;you look ill. You are ill. You
+      must go to the sea-shore. You must visit some of your proud friends at
+      East Hampton or Newport. Then I&rsquo;ll know you&rsquo;re happy and I won&rsquo;t worry,
+      and I&rsquo;ll find a job. I don&rsquo;t mind the heat&mdash;and I&rsquo;ll write you love
+      letters&rdquo;&mdash;he was talking very fast and not looking at Dolly&mdash;&ldquo;like
+      those I used to write you, before&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dolly raised her hand. &ldquo;Listen!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Suppose I leave you. What will
+      happen? I&rsquo;ll wake up in a cool, beautiful brass bed, won&rsquo;t I&mdash;with
+      cretonne window-curtains, and salt air blowing them about, and a maid to
+      bring me coffee. And instead of a bathroom like yours, next to an elevator
+      shaft and a fire-escape, I&rsquo;ll have one as big as a church, and the whole
+      blue ocean to swim in. And I&rsquo;ll sit on the rocks in the sunshine and watch
+      the waves and the yachts&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And grow well again!&rdquo; cried Carter. &ldquo;But you&rsquo;ll write to me,&rdquo; he added
+      wistfully, &ldquo;every day, won&rsquo;t you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In her wrath, Dolly rose, and from across the table confronted him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what will I be doing on those rocks?&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;You KNOW what I&rsquo;ll
+      be doing! I&rsquo;ll be sobbing, and sobbing, and calling out to the waves: &lsquo;Why
+      did he send me away? Why doesn&rsquo;t he want me? Because he doesn&rsquo;t love me.
+      That&rsquo;s why! He doesn&rsquo;t LOVE me!&rsquo; And you DON&rsquo;T!&rdquo; cried Dolly. &ldquo;You DON&rsquo;T!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It took him all of three minutes to persuade her she was mistaken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, then,&rdquo; sobbed Dolly, &ldquo;that&rsquo;s settled. And there&rsquo;ll be no more
+      talk of sending me away!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There will NOT!&rdquo; said Champneys hastily. &ldquo;We will now,&rdquo; he announced, &ldquo;go
+      into committee of the whole and decide how we are to face financial
+      failure. Our assets consist of two stories, accepted, but not paid for,
+      and fifteen stories not accepted.&rdquo; In cash, he spread upon the table a
+      meagre collection of soiled bills and coins. &ldquo;We have twenty-seven dollars
+      and fourteen cents. That is every penny we possess in the world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dolly regarded him fixedly and shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it wicked,&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;to love you so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Haven&rsquo;t you been listening to me?&rdquo; demanded Carter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again Dolly shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was watching the way you talk. When your lips move fast they do such
+      charming things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know,&rdquo; roared Carter, &ldquo;that we haven&rsquo;t a penny in the world, that
+      we have nothing in this flat to eat?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I still have five hats,&rdquo; said Dolly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t eat hats,&rdquo; protested Champneys.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can sell hats!&rdquo; returned Dolly. &ldquo;They cost eighty dollars apiece!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When you need money,&rdquo; explained Carter, &ldquo;I find it&rsquo;s just as hard to sell
+      a hat as to eat it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twenty-seven dollars and fourteen cents,&rdquo; repeated Dolly. She exclaimed
+      remorsefully: &ldquo;And you started with three thousand! What did I do with
+      it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We both had the time of our lives with it!&rdquo; said Carter stoutly. &ldquo;And
+      that&rsquo;s all there is to that. Post-mortems,&rdquo; he pointed out, &ldquo;are useful
+      only as guides to the future, and as our future will never hold a second
+      three thousand dollars, we needn&rsquo;t worry about how we spent the first one.
+      No! What we must consider now is how we can grow rich quick, and the
+      quicker and richer, the better. Pawning our clothes, or what&rsquo;s left of
+      them, is bad economics. There&rsquo;s no use considering how to live from meal
+      to meal. We must evolve something big, picturesque, that will bring a
+      fortune. You have imagination; I&rsquo;m supposed to have imagination, we must
+      think of a plan to get money, much money. I do not insist on our plan
+      being dignified, or even outwardly respectable; so long as it keeps you
+      alive, it may be as desperate as&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see!&rdquo; cried Dolly; &ldquo;like sending mother Black Hand letters!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Blackmail&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; began that lady&rsquo;s son-in-law doubtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Or!&rdquo; cried Dolly, &ldquo;we might kidnap Mr. Carnegie when he&rsquo;s walking in the
+      park alone, and hold him for ransom. Or&rdquo;&mdash;she rushed on&mdash;&ldquo;we
+      might forge a codicil to father&rsquo;s will, and make it say if mother
+      shouldn&rsquo;t like the man I want to marry, all of father&rsquo;s fortune must go to
+      my husband!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgery,&rdquo; exclaimed Champneys, &ldquo;is going further than I&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And another plan,&rdquo; interrupted Dolly, &ldquo;that I have always had in mind, is
+      to issue a cheaper edition of your book, &lsquo;The Dead Heat.&rsquo; The reason the
+      first edition of &lsquo;The Dead Heat&rsquo; didn&rsquo;t sell&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t tell ME why it didn&rsquo;t sell,&rdquo; said Champneys. &ldquo;I wrote it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That book,&rdquo; declared Dolly loyally, &ldquo;was never properly advertised. No
+      one knew about it, so no one bought it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Eleven people bought it!&rdquo; corrected the author.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will put it in a paper cover and sell it for fifty cents,&rdquo; cried
+      Dolly. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the best detective story I ever read, and people have got to
+      know it is the best. So we&rsquo;ll advertise it like a breakfast food.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The idea,&rdquo; interrupted Champneys, &ldquo;is to make money, not throw it away.
+      Besides, we haven&rsquo;t any to throw away. Dolly sighed bitterly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If only,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;we had that three thousand dollars back again!
+      I&rsquo;d save SO carefully. It was all my fault. The races took it, but it was
+      I took you to the races.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one ever had to drag ME to the races,&rdquo; said Carter. &ldquo;It was the way we
+      went that was extravagant. Automobiles by the hour standing idle, and a
+      box each day, and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And always backing Dromedary,&rdquo; suggested Dolly. Carter was touched on a
+      sensitive spot. &ldquo;That horse,&rdquo; he protested loudly, &ldquo;is a mighty good
+      horse. Some day&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what you always said,&rdquo; remarked Dolly, &ldquo;but he never seems to have
+      his day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s strange,&rdquo; said Champneys consciously. &ldquo;I dreamed of Dromedary only
+      last night. Same dream over and over again.&rdquo; Hastily he changed the
+      subject.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For some reason I don&rsquo;t sleep well. I don&rsquo;t know why.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dolly looked at him with all the love in her eyes of a mother over her
+      ailing infant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s worrying over me, and the heat,&rdquo;&rsquo; she said. &ldquo;And the garage next
+      door, and the skyscraper going up across the street, might have something
+      to do with it. And YOU,&rdquo; she mocked tenderly, &ldquo;wanted to send me to the
+      sea-shore.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carter was frowning. As though about to speak, he opened his lips, and
+      then laughed embarrassedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Out with it,&rdquo; said Dolly, with an encouraging smile. &ldquo;Did he win?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Seeing she had read what was in his mind, Carter leaned forward eagerly.
+      The ruling passion and a touch of superstition held him in their grip.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He &lsquo;win&rsquo; each time,&rdquo; he whispered. &ldquo;I saw it as plain as I see you. Each
+      time he came up with a rush just at the same place, just as they entered
+      the stretch, and each time he won!&rdquo; He slapped his hand disdainfully upon
+      the dirty bills before him. &ldquo;If I had a hundred dollars!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a knock at the door, and Carter opened it to the elevator boy
+      with the morning mail. The letters, save one, Carter dropped upon the
+      table. That one, with clumsy fingers, he tore open. He exclaimed
+      breathlessly: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s from PLYMPTON&rsquo;S MAGAZINE! Maybe&mdash;I&rsquo;ve sold a
+      story!&rdquo; He gave a cry almost of alarm. His voice was as solemn as though
+      the letter had announced a death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dolly,&rdquo; he whispered, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s a check&mdash;a check for a HUNDRED DOLLARS!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Guiltily, the two young people looked at each other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve GOT to!&rdquo; breathed Dolly. &ldquo;GOT to! If we let TWO signs like that
+      pass, we&rsquo;d be flying in the face of Providence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With her hands gripping the arms of her chair, she leaned forward, her
+      eyes staring into space, her lips moving.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;COME ON, you Dromedary!&rdquo; she whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They changed the check into five and ten dollar bills, and, as Carter was
+      far too excited to work, made an absurdly early start for the race-track.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We might as well get all the fresh air we can,&rdquo; said Dolly. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s all
+      we will get!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      From their reserve fund of twenty-seven dollars which each had solemnly
+      agreed with the other would not be risked on race-horses, Dolly subtracted
+      a two-dollar bill. This she stuck conspicuously across the face of the
+      clock on the mantel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo; asked Carter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When we get back this evening,&rdquo; Dolly explained, &ldquo;that will be the first
+      thing we&rsquo;ll see. It&rsquo;s going to look awfully good!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This day there was no scarlet car to rush them with refreshing swiftness
+      through Brooklyn&rsquo;s parkways and along the Ocean Avenue. Instead, they hung
+      to a strap in a cross-town car, changed to the ferry, and again to the
+      Long Island Railroad. When Carter halted at the special car of the Turf
+      Club, Dolly took his arm and led him forward to the day coach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; protested Carter, &ldquo;when you&rsquo;re spending a hundred dollars with one
+      hand, why grudge fifty cents for a parlor-car seat? If you&rsquo;re going to be
+      a sport, be a sport.&rdquo; &ldquo;And if you&rsquo;ve got to be a piker,&rdquo; said Dolly,
+      &ldquo;don&rsquo;t be ashamed to be a piker. We&rsquo;re not spending a hundred dollars
+      because we can afford it, but because you dreamt a dream. You didn&rsquo;t dream
+      you were riding in parlor-cars! If you did, it&rsquo;s time I woke you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This day there was for them no box overlooking the finish, no club-house
+      luncheon. With the other pikers, they sat in the free seats, with those
+      who sat coatless and tucked their handkerchiefs inside their collars, and
+      with those who mopped their perspiring countenances with rice-paper and
+      marked their cards with a hat-pin. Their lunch consisted of a massive ham
+      sandwich with a top dressing of mustard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dromedary did not run until the fifth race, and the long wait, before they
+      could learn their fate, was intolerable. They knew most of the horses,
+      and, to pass the time, on each of the first races Dolly made imaginary
+      bets. Of these mental wagers, she lost every one.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you turn out to be as bad a guesser when you&rsquo;re asleep as I am when
+      I&rsquo;m awake,&rdquo; said Dolly, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re going to lose our fortune.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;m weakening!&rdquo; declared Carter. &ldquo;A hundred dollars is beginning to look
+      to me like an awful lot of money. Twenty-seven dollars, and there&rsquo;s only
+      twenty of that left now, is mighty small capital, but twenty dollars plus
+      a hundred could keep us alive for a month!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you, or did you not, dream that Dromedary would win?&rdquo; demanded Dolly
+      sternly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I certainly did, several times,&rdquo; said Carter. &ldquo;But it may be I was
+      thinking of the horse. I&rsquo;ve lost such a lot on him, my mind may have&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you,&rdquo; interrupted Dolly, &ldquo;say if you had a hundred dollars you&rsquo;d bet
+      it, and did a hundred dollars walk in through the door instantly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carter, reassured, breathed again. &ldquo;It certainly did!&rdquo; he repeated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even in his proud days, Carter had never been able to bet heavily, and
+      instead of troubling the club-house commissioners with his small wagers,
+      he had, in the ring, bet ready money. Moreover, he believed in the ring he
+      obtained more favorable odds, and, when he won, it pleased him, instead of
+      waiting until settling day for a check, to stand in a line and feel the
+      real money thrust into his hand. So, when the fourth race started he rose
+      and raised his hat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The time has come,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Without looking at him, Dolly nodded. She was far too tremulous to speak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For several weeks Dromedary had not been placed, and Carter hoped for odds
+      of at least ten to one. But, when he pushed his way into the arena, he
+      found so little was thought of his choice that as high as twenty to one
+      was being offered, and with few takers. The fact shattered his confidence.
+      Here were two hundred book-makers, trained to their calling, anxious at
+      absurd odds to back their opinion that the horse he liked could not win.
+      In the face of such unanimous contempt, his dream became fantastic,
+      fatuous. He decided he would risk only half of his fortune. Then, should
+      the horse win, he still would be passing rich, and should he lose, he
+      would, at least, have all of fifty dollars.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With a book-maker he wagered that sum, and then, in unhappy indecision,
+      stood, in one hand clutching his ticket that called for a potential
+      thousand and fifty dollars, and in the other an actual fifty. It was not a
+      place for meditation. From every side men, more or less sane, swept upon
+      him, jostled him, and stamped upon him, and still, struggling for a
+      foothold, he swayed, hesitating. Then he became conscious that the ring
+      was nearly empty, that only a few shrieking individuals still ran down the
+      line. The horses were going to the post. He must decide quickly. In front
+      of him the book-maker cleaned his board, and, as a final appeal, opposite
+      the names of three horses chalked thirty to one. Dromedary was among them.
+      Such odds could not be resisted. Carter shoved his fifty at the man, and
+      to that sum added the twenty dollars still in his pocket. They were the
+      last dollars he owned in the world. And though he knew they were his last,
+      he was fearful lest the book-maker would refuse them. But, mechanically,
+      the man passed them over his shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And twenty-one hundred to seventy,&rdquo; he chanted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Carter took his seat beside Dolly, he was quite cold. Still, Dolly
+      did not speak. Out of the corner of her eyes she questioned him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I got fifty at twenty to one,&rdquo; replied Carter, &ldquo;and seventy at thirty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In alarm, Dolly turned upon him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;SEVENTY!&rdquo; she gasped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Carter nodded. &ldquo;All we have,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We have sixty cents left, to start
+      life over again!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As though to encourage him, Dolly placed her finger on her race-card.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His colors,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;are &lsquo;green cap, green jacket, green and white
+      hoops.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Through a maze of heat, a half-mile distant, at the starting-gate, little
+      spots of color moved in impatient circles. The big, good-natured crowd had
+      grown silent, so silent that from the high, sun-warmed grass in the
+      infield one could hear the lazy chirp of the crickets. As though repeating
+      a prayer, or an incantation, Dolly&rsquo;s lips were moving quickly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Green cap,&rdquo; she whispered, &ldquo;green jacket, green and white hoops!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      With a sharp sigh the crowd broke the silence. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re off!&rdquo; it cried,
+      and leaned forward expectant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The horses came so fast. To Carter their conduct seemed outrageous. It was
+      incredible that in so short a time, at a pace so reckless, they would
+      decide a question of such moment. They came bunched together, shifting and
+      changing, with, through the dust, flashes of blue and gold and scarlet. A
+      jacket of yellow shot out of the dust and showed in front; a jacket of
+      crimson followed. So they were at the half; so they were at the
+      three-quarters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The good-natured crowd began to sway, to grumble and murmur, then to shout
+      in sharp staccato.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can you see him?&rdquo; begged Dolly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Carter. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t see him until they reach the stretch.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      One could hear their hoofs, could see the crimson jockey draw his whip. At
+      the sight, for he rode the favorite, the crowd gave a great gasp of
+      concern.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you Gold Heels!&rdquo; it implored.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Under the whip, Gold Heels drew even with the yellow jacket; stride by
+      stride, they fought it out alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gold Heels!&rdquo; cried the crowd.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Behind them, in a curtain of dust, pounded the field. It charged in a
+      flying wedge, like a troop of cavalry. Dolly, searching for a green
+      jacket, saw, instead, a rainbow wave of color that, as it rose and fell,
+      sprang toward her in great leaps, swallowing the track.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gold Heels!&rdquo; yelled the crowd.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The field swept into the stretch. Without moving his eyes, Carter caught
+      Dolly by the wrist and pointed. As though giving a signal, he shot his
+      free hand into the air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now!&rdquo; he shouted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the curtain of dust, as lightning strikes through a cloud, darted a
+      great, raw-boned, ugly chestnut. Like the Empire Express, he came rocking,
+      thundering, spurning the ground. At his coming, Gold Heels, to the eyes of
+      the crowd, seemed to falter, to slacken, to stand still. The crowd gave a
+      great cry of amazement, a yell of disgust. The chestnut drew even with
+      Gold Heels, passed him, and swept under the wire. Clinging to his neck was
+      a little jockey in a green cap, green jacket, and hoops of green and
+      white.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dolly&rsquo;s hand was at her side, clutching the bench. Carter&rsquo;s hand still
+      clasped it. Neither spoke or looked at the other. For an instant, while
+      the crowd, no longer so good-natured, mocked and jeered at itself, the two
+      young people sat quite still, staring at the green field, at the white
+      clouds rolling from the ocean. Dolly drew a long breath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s go!&rdquo; she gasped. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s thank him first, and then take me home!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They found Dromedary in the paddock, and thanked him, and Carter left
+      Dolly with him, while he ran to collect his winnings. When he returned, he
+      showed her a sheaf of yellow bills, and as they ran down the covered board
+      walk to the gate, they skipped and danced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dolly turned toward the train drawn up at the entrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not with me!&rdquo; shouted Carter. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going home in the reddest, most
+      expensive, fastest automobile I can hire!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In the &ldquo;hack&rdquo; line of motor-cars was one that answered those requirements,
+      and they fell into it as though it were their own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To the Night and Day Bank!&rdquo; commanded Carter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the genial democracy of the race-track, the chauffeur lifted his head
+      to grin appreciatively. &ldquo;That listens good to me!&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I like him!&rdquo; whispered Dolly. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s buy him and the car.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      On the way home, they bought many cars; every car they saw, that they
+      liked, they bought. They bought, also, several houses, and a yacht that
+      they saw from the ferry-boat. And as soon as they had deposited the most
+      of their money in the bank, they went to a pawnshop in Sixth Avenue and
+      bought back many possessions that they had feared they never would see
+      again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they entered the flat, the thing they first beheld was Dolly&rsquo;s
+      two-dollar bill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What,&rdquo; demanded Carter, with repugnance, &ldquo;is that strange piece of
+      paper?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dolly examined it carefully. &ldquo;I think it is a kind of money,&rdquo; she said,
+      &ldquo;used by the lower classes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They dined on the roof at Delmonico&rsquo;s. Dolly wore the largest of the five
+      hats still unsold, and Carter selected the dishes entirely according to
+      which was the most expensive. Every now and again they would look
+      anxiously down across the street at the bank that held their money. They
+      were nervous lest it should take fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can be extravagant to-night,&rdquo; said Dolly, &ldquo;because we owe it to
+      Dromedary to celebrate. But from to-night on we must save. We&rsquo;ve had an
+      awful lesson. What happened to us last month must never happen again. We
+      were down to a two-dollar bill. Now we have twenty-five hundred across the
+      street, and you have several hundreds in your pocket. On that we can live
+      easily for a year. Meanwhile, you can write &lsquo;the&rsquo; great American novel
+      without having to worry about money, or to look for a steady job. And then
+      your book will come out, and you will be famous, and rich, and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Passing on from that,&rdquo; interrupted Carter, &ldquo;the thing of first importance
+      is to get you out of that hot, beastly flat. I propose we start to-morrow
+      for Cape Cod. I know a lot of fishing villages there where we could board
+      and lodge for twelve dollars a week, and row and play tennis and live in
+      our bathing suits.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dolly assented with enthusiasm, and during the courses of the dinner they
+      happily discussed Cape Cod from Pocasset to Yarmouth, and from Sandwich to
+      Provincetown. So eager were they to escape, that Carter telephoned the
+      hallman at his club to secure a cabin for the next afternoon on the Fall
+      River boat. As they sat over their coffee in the cool breeze, with, in the
+      air, the scent of flowers and the swing of music, and with, at their feet,
+      the lights of the great city, the world seemed very bright.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been a great day,&rdquo; sighed Carter. &ldquo;And if I hadn&rsquo;t had nervous
+      prostration I would have enjoyed it. That race-course is always cool, and
+      there were some fine finishes. I noticed two horses that would bear
+      watching, Her Highness and Glowworm. If we weren&rsquo;t leaving to-morrow, I&rsquo;d
+      be inclined&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; Dolly regarded him with eyes of horror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Champneys Carter!&rdquo; she exclaimed. As she said it, it sounded like &ldquo;Great
+      Jehoshaphat!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carter protested indignantly. &ldquo;I only said,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;if I were
+      following the races, I&rsquo;d watch those horses. Don&rsquo;t worry!&rdquo; he exclaimed.
+      &ldquo;I know when to stop.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The next morning they took breakfast on the tiny terrace of a restaurant
+      overlooking Bryant Park, where, during the first days of their honeymoon,
+      they had always breakfasted. For sentimental reasons they now revisited
+      it. But Dolly was eager to return at once to the flat and pack, and Carter
+      seemed distraught. He explained that he had had a bad night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;m so sorry,&rdquo; sympathized Dolly, &ldquo;but to-night you will have a fine
+      sleep going up the Sound. Any more nightmares?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nightmares!&rdquo; exploded Carter fiercely. &ldquo;Nightmares they certainly were! I
+      dreamt two of the nightmares won! I saw them, all night, just as I saw
+      Dromedary, Her Highness and Glowworm, winning, winning, winning!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Those were the horses you spoke about last night,&rdquo; said Dolly severely.
+      &ldquo;After so wonderful a day, of course you dreamt of racing, and those two
+      horses were in your mind. That&rsquo;s the explanation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They returned to the flat and began, industriously, to pack. About twelve
+      o&rsquo;clock Carter, coming suddenly into the bedroom where Dolly was alone,
+      found her reading the MORNING TELEGRAPH. It was open at the racing page of
+      &ldquo;past performances.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She dropped the paper guiltily. Carter kicked a hat-box out of his way and
+      sat down on a trunk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see,&rdquo; he began, &ldquo;why we can&rsquo;t wait one more day. We&rsquo;d be just as
+      near the ocean at Sheepshead Bay race-track as on a Fall River boat, and&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+       He halted and frowned unhappily. &ldquo;We needn&rsquo;t bet more than ten dollars,&rdquo;
+       he begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; declared Dolly, &ldquo;if they SHOULD win, you&rsquo;ll always blame ME!&rdquo;
+       Carter&rsquo;s eyes shone hopefully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And,&rdquo; continued Dolly, &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t bear to have you blame me. So&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get your hat!&rdquo; shouted Carter, &ldquo;or we&rsquo;ll miss the first race.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carter telephoned for a cab, and as they were entering it said guiltily:
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to stop at the bank.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have NOT!&rdquo; announced Dolly. &ldquo;That money is to keep us alive while you
+      write the great American novel. I&rsquo;m glad to spend another day at the
+      races, and I&rsquo;m willing to back your dreams as far as ten dollars, but for
+      no more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If my dreams come true,&rdquo; warned Carter, &ldquo;you&rsquo;ll be awfully sorry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not I,&rdquo; said Dolly. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll merely send you to bed, and you can go on
+      dreaming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When Her Highness romped home, an easy winner, the look Dolly turned upon
+      her husband was one both of fear and dismay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like it!&rdquo; she gasped. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s&mdash;it&rsquo;s uncanny. It gives me a
+      creepy feeling. It makes you seem sort of supernatural. And oh,&rdquo; she
+      cried, &ldquo;if only I had let you bet all you had with you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did,&rdquo; stammered Carter, in extreme agitation. &ldquo;I bet four hundred. I
+      got five to one, Dolly,&rdquo; he gasped, in awe; &ldquo;we&rsquo;ve won two thousand
+      dollars.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dolly exclaimed rapturously: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll put it all in bank,&rdquo; she cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll put it all on Glowworm!&rdquo; said her husband.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Champ!&rdquo; begged Dolly. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t push your luck. Stop while&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+       Carter shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It&rsquo;s NOT luck!&rdquo; he growled. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a gift, it&rsquo;s second sight, it&rsquo;s
+      prophecy. I&rsquo;ve been a full-fledged clairvoyant all my life, and didn&rsquo;t
+      know it. Anyway, I&rsquo;m a sport, and after two of my dreams breaking right,
+      I&rsquo;ve got to back the third one!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Glowworm was at ten to one, and at those odds the book-makers to whom he
+      first applied did not care to take so large a sum as he offered. Carter
+      found a book-maker named &ldquo;Sol&rdquo; Burbank who, at those odds, accepted his
+      two thousand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Carter returned to collect his twenty-two thousand, there was some
+      little delay while Burbank borrowed a portion of it. He looked at Carter
+      curiously and none too genially.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wasn&rsquo;t it you,&rdquo; he asked, &ldquo;that had that thirty-to-one shot yesterday on
+      Dromedary?&rdquo; Carter nodded somewhat guiltily. A man in the crowd
+      volunteered: &ldquo;And he had Her Highness in the second, too, for four
+      hundred.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve made a good day,&rdquo; said Burbank. &ldquo;Give me a chance to get my money
+      back to-morrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry,&rdquo; said Carter. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m leaving New York to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The same scarlet car bore them back triumphant to the bank.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twenty-two thousand dollars?&rdquo; gasped Carter, &ldquo;in CASH! How in the name of
+      all that&rsquo;s honest can we celebrate winning twenty-two thousand dollars? We
+      can&rsquo;t eat more than one dinner; we can&rsquo;t drink more than two quarts of
+      champagne&mdash;not without serious results.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you what we can do!&rdquo; cried Dolly excitedly. &ldquo;We can sail
+      to-morrow on the CAMPANIA!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hurrah!&rdquo; shouted Carter. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll have a second honey-moon. We&rsquo;ll shoot up
+      London and Paris. We&rsquo;ll tear slices out of the map of Europe. You&rsquo;ll ride
+      in one motor-car, I&rsquo;ll ride in another, we&rsquo;ll have a maid and a valet in a
+      third, and we&rsquo;ll race each other all the way to Monte Carlo. And, there,
+      I&rsquo;ll dream of the winning numbers, and we&rsquo;ll break the bank. When does the
+      CAMPANIA sail?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At noon,&rdquo; said Dolly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At eight we will be on board,&rdquo; said Carter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But that night in his dreams he saw King Pepper, Confederate, and Red Wing
+      each win a race. And in the morning neither the engines of the CAMPANIA
+      nor the entreaties of Dolly could keep him from the race-track.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I want only six thousand,&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;You can do what you like with
+      the rest, but I am going to bet six thousand on the first one of those
+      three to start. If he loses, I give you my word I&rsquo;ll not bet another cent,
+      and we&rsquo;ll sail on Saturday. If he wins Out, I&rsquo;ll put all I make on the two
+      others.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can&rsquo;t you see,&rdquo; begged Dolly, &ldquo;that your dreams are just a rehash of what
+      you think during the day? You have been playing in wonderful luck, that&rsquo;s
+      all. Each of those horses is likely to win his race. When he does you will
+      have more faith than ever in your silly dreams&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My silly dreams,&rdquo; said Carter grinning, &ldquo;are carrying you to Europe,
+      first class, by the next steamer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They had been talking while on their way to the bank. When Dolly saw she
+      could not alter his purpose, she made him place the nineteen thousand that
+      remained, after he had taken out the six thousand, in her name. She then
+      drew out the entire amount.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You told me,&rdquo; said Dolly, smiling anxiously, &ldquo;I could do what I liked
+      with it. Maybe I have dreams also. Maybe I mean to back them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She drove away, mysteriously refusing to tell him what she intended to do.
+      When they met at luncheon, she was still much excited, still bristling
+      with a concealed secret.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you back your dream?&rdquo; asked Carter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dolly nodded happily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And when am I to know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will read of it,&rdquo; said Dolly, &ldquo;to-morrow, in the morning papers. It&rsquo;s
+      all quite correct. My lawyers arranged it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lawyers!&rdquo; gasped her husband. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not arranging to lock me in a
+      private madhouse, are you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No,&rdquo; laughed Dolly; &ldquo;but when I told them how I intended to invest the
+      money they came near putting me there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t they want to know how you suddenly got so rich?&rdquo; asked Carter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They did. I told them it came from my husband&rsquo;s &lsquo;books&rsquo;! It was a very
+      &lsquo;near&rsquo; false-hood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was worse,&rdquo; said Carter. &ldquo;It was a very poor pun.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As in their honey-moon days they drove proudly to the track, and when
+      Carter had placed Dolly in a box large enough for twenty, he pushed his
+      way into the crowd around the stand of &ldquo;Sol&rdquo; Burbank. That veteran of the
+      turf welcomed him gladly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Coming to give me my money back?&rdquo; he called.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, to take some away,&rdquo; said Carter, handing him his six thousand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Without apparently looking at it, Burbank passed it to his cashier. &ldquo;King
+      Pepper, twelve to six thousand,&rdquo; he called.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When King Pepper won, and Carter moved around the ring with eighteen
+      thousand dollars in thousand and five hundred dollar bills in his fist, he
+      found himself beset by a crowd of curious, eager &ldquo;pikers.&rdquo; They both
+      impeded his operations and acted as a body-guard. Confederate was an
+      almost prohibitive favorite at one to three, and in placing eighteen
+      thousand that he might win six, Carter found little difficulty. When
+      Confederate won, and he started with his twenty-four thousand to back Red
+      Wing, the crowd now engulfed him. Men and boys who when they wagered five
+      and ten dollars were risking their all, found in the sight of a young man
+      offering bets in hundreds and thousands a thrilling and fascinating
+      spectacle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To learn what horse he was playing and at what odds, racing touts and
+      runners for other book-makers and individual speculators leaped into the
+      mob that surrounded him, and then, squirming their way out, ran shrieking
+      down the line. In ten minutes, through the bets of Carter and those that
+      backed his luck, the odds against Red Wing were forced down from fifteen
+      to one to even money. His approach was hailed by the book-makers either
+      with jeers or with shouts of welcome. Those who had lost demanded a chance
+      to regain their money. Those with whom he had not bet, found in that fact
+      consolation, and chaffed the losers. Some curtly refused even the smallest
+      part of his money.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not with me!&rdquo; they laughed. From stand to stand the layers of odds
+      taunted him, or each other. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t touch it, it&rsquo;s tainted!&rdquo; they shouted.
+      &ldquo;Look out, Joe, he&rsquo;s the Jonah man?&rdquo; Or, &ldquo;Come at me again!&rdquo; they called.
+      &ldquo;And, once more!&rdquo; they challenged as they reached for a thousand-dollar
+      bill.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And, when in time, each shook his head and grumbled: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s all I want,&rdquo;
+       or looked the other way, the mob around Carter jeered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He&rsquo;s fought &lsquo;em to a stand-still!&rdquo; they shouted jubilantly. In their eyes
+      a man who alone was able and willing to wipe the name of a horse off the
+      blackboards was a hero.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To the horror of Dolly, instead of watching the horses parade past, the
+      crowd gathered in front of her box and pointed and stared at her. From the
+      club-house her men friends and acquaintances invaded it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has Carter gone mad?&rdquo; they demanded. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s dealing out thousand-dollar
+      bills like cigarettes. He&rsquo;s turned the ring into a wheat Pit!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When he reached the box a sun-burned man in a sombrero blocked his way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;m the owner of Red Wing,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;bred him and trained him
+      myself. I know he&rsquo;ll be lucky if he gets the place. You&rsquo;re backing him in
+      thousands to WIN. What do you know about him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Know he will win,&rdquo; said Carter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The veteran commissioner of the club stand buttonholed him. &ldquo;Mr. Carter,&rdquo;
+       he begged, &ldquo;why don&rsquo;t you bet through me? I&rsquo;ll give you as good odds as
+      they will in that ring. You don&rsquo;t want your clothes torn off you and your
+      money taken from you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They haven&rsquo;t taken such a lot of it yet,&rdquo; said Carter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Red Wing won, the crowd beneath the box, the men in the box, and the
+      people standing around it, most of whom had followed Carter&rsquo;s plunge,
+      cheered and fell over him, to shake hands and pound him on the back. From
+      every side excited photographers pointed cameras, and Lander&rsquo;s band
+      played: &ldquo;Every Little Bit Added to What You&rsquo;ve Got Makes Just a Little Bit
+      More.&rdquo; As he left the box to collect his money, a big man with a brown
+      mustache and two smooth-shaven giants closed in around him, as tackles
+      interfere for the man who has the ball. The big man took him by the arm.
+      Carter shook himself free.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the idea?&rdquo; he demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;m Pinkerton,&rdquo; said the big man genially. &ldquo;You need a body-guard. If
+      you&rsquo;ve got an empty seat in your car, I&rsquo;ll drive home with you. From
+      Cavanaugh they borrowed a book-maker&rsquo;s hand-bag and stuffed it with
+      thousand-dollar bills. When they stepped into the car the crowd still
+      surrounded them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He&rsquo;s taking it home in a trunk!&rdquo; they yelled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That night the &ldquo;sporting extras&rdquo; of the afternoon papers gave prominence
+      to the luck at the races of Champneys Carter. From Cavanaugh and the
+      book-makers, the racing reporters had gathered accounts of his winnings.
+      They stated that in three successive days, starting with one hundred
+      dollars, he had at the end of the third day not lost a single bet, and
+      that afternoon, on the last race alone, he had won sixty to seventy
+      thousand dollars. With the text, they &ldquo;ran&rdquo; pictures of Carter at the
+      track, of Dolly in her box, and of Mrs. Ingram in a tiara and ball-dress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mother-in-law WILL be pleased cried Carter. In some alarm as to what the
+      newspapers might say on the morrow, he ordered that in the morning a copy
+      of each be sent to his room. That night in his dreams he saw clouds of
+      dust-covered jackets and horses with sweating flanks, and one of them
+      named Ambitious led all the rest. When he woke, he said to Dolly: &ldquo;That
+      horse Ambitious will win to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He can do just as he likes about THAT!&rdquo; replied Dolly. &ldquo;I have something
+      on my mind much more important than horse-racing. To-day you are to learn
+      how I spent your money. It&rsquo;s to be in the morning papers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When he came to breakfast, Dolly was on her knees. For his inspection she
+      had spread the newspapers on the floor, opened at an advertisement that
+      appeared in each. In the Centre of a half-page of white paper were the
+      lines:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     SOLD OUT IN ONE DAY!
+
+     ENTIRE FIRST EDITION
+
+     THE DEAD HEAT
+
+     BY
+
+     CHAMPNEYS CARTER
+
+     SECOND EDITION ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In Heaven&rsquo;s name!&rdquo; roared Carter. &ldquo;What does this mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It means,&rdquo; cried Dolly tremulously, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m backing my dream. I&rsquo;ve always
+      believed in your book. Now, I&rsquo;m backing it. Our lawyers sent me to an
+      advertising agent. His name is Spink, and he is awfully clever. I asked
+      him if he could advertise a book so as to make it sell. He said with my
+      money and his ideas he could sell last year&rsquo;s telephone book to people who
+      did not own a telephone, and who had never learned to read. He is proud of
+      his ideas. One of them was buying out the first edition. Your publishers
+      told him your book was &lsquo;waste paper,&rsquo; and that he could have every copy in
+      stock for the cost of the plates. So he bought the whole edition. That&rsquo;s
+      how it was sold out in one day. Then we ordered a second edition of one
+      hundred thousand, and they&rsquo;re printing it now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The presses have been working all night to meet the demand!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; cried Carter, &ldquo;there isn&rsquo;t any demand!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There will be,&rdquo; said Dolly, &ldquo;when five million people read our
+      advertisements.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She dragged him to the window and pointed triumphantly into the street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See that!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Mr. Spink sent them here for me to inspect.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Drawn up in a line that stretched from Fifth Avenue to Broadway were an
+      army of sandwich men. On the boards they carried were the words: &ldquo;Read
+      &lsquo;The Dead Heat.&rsquo; Second Edition. One Hundred Thousand!&rdquo; On the fence in
+      front of the building going up across the street, in letters a foot high,
+      Carter again read the name of his novel. In letters in size more modest,
+      but in colors more defiant, it glared at him from ash-cans and barrels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How much does this cost?&rdquo; he gasped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It cost every dollar you had in bank,&rdquo; said Dolly, &ldquo;and before we are
+      through it will cost you twice as much more. Mr. Spink is only waiting to
+      hear from me before he starts spending fifty thousand dollars; that&rsquo;s only
+      half of what you won on Red Wing. I&rsquo;m only waiting for you to make me out
+      a check before I tell Spink to start spending it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In a dazed state Carter drew a check for fifty thousand dollars and meekly
+      handed it to his wife. They carried it themselves to the office of Mr.
+      Spink. On their way, on every side they saw evidences of his handiwork. On
+      walls, on scaffolding, on bill-boards were advertisements of &ldquo;The Dead
+      Heat.&rdquo; Over Madison Square a huge kite as large as a Zeppelin air-ship
+      painted the name of the book against the sky, on &ldquo;dodgers&rdquo; it floated in
+      the air, on handbills it stared up from the gutters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Spink was a nervous young man with a bald head and eye-glasses. He
+      grasped the check as a general might welcome fifty thousand fresh troops.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Reinforcements!&rdquo; he cried. &ldquo;Now, watch me. Now I can do things that are
+      big, national, Napoleonic. We can&rsquo;t get those books bound inside of a
+      week, but meanwhile orders will be pouring in, people will be growing
+      crazy for it. Every man, woman, and child in Greater New York will want a
+      copy. I&rsquo;ve sent out fifty boys dressed as jockeys on horseback to ride
+      neck and neck up and down every avenue. &lsquo;The Dead Heat&rsquo; is printed on the
+      saddle-cloth. Half of them have been arrested already. It&rsquo;s a little idea
+      of my own.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But,&rdquo; protested Carter, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s not a racing story, it&rsquo;s a detective
+      story!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The devil it is!&rdquo; gasped Spink. &ldquo;But what&rsquo;s the difference!&rdquo; he
+      exclaimed. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got to buy it anyway. They&rsquo;d buy it if it was a
+      cook-book. And, I say,&rdquo; he cried delightedly, &ldquo;that&rsquo;s great press work
+      you&rsquo;re doing for the book at the races! The papers are full of you this
+      morning, and every man who reads about your luck at the track will see
+      your name as the author of &lsquo;The Dead Heat,&rsquo; and will rush to buy the book.
+      He&rsquo;ll think &lsquo;The Dead Heat&rsquo; is a guide to the turf!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When Carter reached the track he found his notoriety had preceded him.
+      Ambitious did not run until the fourth race, and until then, as he sat in
+      his box, an eager crowd surged below. He had never known such popularity.
+      The crowd had read the newspapers, and such head-lines as &ldquo;He Cannot
+      Lose!&rdquo; &ldquo;Young Carter Wins $70,000!&rdquo; &ldquo;Boy Plunger Wins Again!&rdquo; &ldquo;Carter
+      Makes Big Killing!&rdquo; &ldquo;The Ring Hit Hard!&rdquo; &ldquo;The Man Who Cannot Lose!&rdquo;
+       &ldquo;Carter Beats Book-makers!&rdquo; had whetted their curiosity and filled many
+      with absolute faith in his luck. Men he had not seen in years grasped him
+      by the hand and carelessly asked if he could tell of something good.
+      Friends old and new begged him to dine with them, to immediately have a
+      drink with them, at least to &ldquo;try&rdquo; a cigar. Men who protested they had
+      lost their all begged for just a hint which would help them to come out
+      even, and every one, without exception, assured him he was going to buy
+      his latest book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I tried to get it last night at a dozen news-stands,&rdquo; many of them said,
+      &ldquo;but they told me the entire edition was exhausted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The crowd of hungry-eyed race-goers waiting below the box, and watching
+      Carter&rsquo;s every movement, distressed Dolly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hate it!&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;They look at you like a lot of starved dogs
+      begging for a bone. Let&rsquo;s go home; we don&rsquo;t want to make any more money,
+      and we may lose what we have. And I want it all to advertise the book.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re not careful,&rdquo; said Carter, &ldquo;some one will buy that book and
+      read it, and then you and Spink will have to take shelter in a cyclone
+      cellar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When he arose to make his bet on Ambitious, his friends from the club
+      stand and a half-dozen of Pinkerton&rsquo;s men closed in around him and in a
+      flying wedge pushed into the ring. The news-papers had done their work,
+      and he was instantly surrounded by a hungry, howling mob. In comparison
+      with the one of the previous day, it was as a foot-ball scrimmage to a run
+      on a bank. When he made his first wager and the crowd learned the name of
+      the horse, it broke with a yell into hundreds of flying missiles which
+      hurled themselves at the book-makers. Under their attack, as on the day
+      before, Ambitious receded to even money. There was hardly a person at the
+      track who did not back the luck of the man who &ldquo;could not lose.&rdquo; And when
+      Ambitious won easily, it was not the horse or the jockey that was cheered,
+      but the young man in the box.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In New York the extras had already announced that he was again lucky, and
+      when Dolly and Carter reached the bank they found the entire staff on hand
+      to receive him and his winnings. They amounted to a sum so magnificent
+      that Carter found for the rest of their lives the interest would furnish
+      Dolly and himself an income upon which they could live modestly and well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A distinguished-looking, white-haired official of the bank congratulated
+      Carter warmly. &ldquo;Should you wish to invest some of this,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I
+      should be glad to advise you. My knowledge in that direction may be wider
+      than your own.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carter murmured his thanks. The white-haired gentleman lowered his voice.
+      &ldquo;On certain other subjects,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;you know many things of which
+      I am totally ignorant. Could you tell me,&rdquo; he asked carelessly, &ldquo;who will
+      win the Suburban to-morrow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carter frowned mysteriously. &ldquo;I can tell you better in the morning,&rdquo; he
+      said. &ldquo;It looks like Beldame, with Proper and First Mason within call.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The white-haired man showed his surprise and also that his ignorance was
+      not as profound as he suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought the Keene entry&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; he ventured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know,&rdquo; said Carter doubtfully. &ldquo;If it were for a mile, I would say
+      Delhi, but I don&rsquo;t think he can last the distance. In the morning I&rsquo;ll
+      wire you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      As they settled back in their car, Carter took both of Dolly&rsquo;s hands in
+      his. &ldquo;So far as money goes,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;we are independent of your mother&mdash;independent
+      of my books; and I want to make you a promise. I want to promise you that,
+      no matter what I dream in the future, I&rsquo;ll never back another horse.&rdquo;
+       Dolly gave a gasp of satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what&rsquo;s more,&rdquo; added Carter hastily, &ldquo;not another dollar can you risk
+      in backing my books. After this, they&rsquo;ve got to stand or fall on their
+      legs!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Agreed!&rdquo; cried Dolly. &ldquo;Our plunging days are over.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      When they reached the flat they found waiting for Carter the junior
+      partner of a real publishing house. He had a blank contract, and he wanted
+      to secure the right to publish Carter&rsquo;s next book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have a few short stories&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; suggested Carter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Collections of short stories, protested the visitor truthfully, &ldquo;do not
+      sell. We would prefer another novel on the same lines as &lsquo;The Dead Heat.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you read &lsquo;The Dead Heat&rsquo;?&rdquo; asked Carter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have not,&rdquo; admitted the publisher, &ldquo;but the next book by the same
+      author is sure to&mdash;&mdash;. We will pay in advance of royalties
+      fifteen thousand dollars.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could you put that in writing?&rdquo; asked Carter. When the publisher was
+      leaving he said:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see your success in literature is equaled by your success at the races.
+      Could you tell me what will win the Suburban?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will send you a wire in the MORNING,&rdquo; said Carter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They had arranged to dine with some friends and later to visit a musical
+      comedy. Carter had changed his clothes, and, while he was waiting for
+      Dolly to dress, was reclining in a huge arm-chair. The heat of the day,
+      the excitement, and the wear on his nerves caused his head to sink back,
+      his eyes to close, and his limbs to relax.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When, by her entrance, Dolly woke him, he jumped up in some confusion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve been asleep,&rdquo; she mocked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Worse!&rdquo; said Carter. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been dreaming! Shall I tell you who is going
+      to win the Suburban?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Champneys!&rdquo; cried Dolly in alarm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Dolly,&rdquo; protested her husband, &ldquo;I promised to stop betting. I did
+      not promise to stop sleeping.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; sighed Dolly, with relief, &ldquo;as long as it stops at that. Delhi
+      will win,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;Delhi will not,&rdquo; said Carter. &ldquo;This is how they
+      will finish&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; He scribbled three names on a piece of paper
+      which Dolly read.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But that,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;is what you told the gentleman at the bank.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carter stared at her blankly and in some embarrassment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see!&rdquo; cried Dolly, &ldquo;what you think when you&rsquo;re awake, you dream when
+      you&rsquo;re asleep. And you had a run of luck that never happened before and
+      could never happen again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carter received her explanation with reluctance. &ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On arriving at the theatre they found their host had reserved a stage-box,
+      and as there were but four in their party, and as, when they entered, the
+      house lights were up, their arrival drew upon them the attention both of
+      those in the audience and of those on the stage. The theatre was crowded
+      to its capacity, and in every part were people who were habitual
+      race-goers, as well as many racing men who had come to town for the
+      Suburban. By these, as well as by many others who for three days had seen
+      innumerable pictures of him, Carter was instantly recognized. To the
+      audience and to the performers the man who always won was of far greater
+      interest than what for the three-hundredth night was going forward on the
+      stage. And when the leading woman, Blanche Winter, asked the comedian
+      which he would rather be, &ldquo;The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo or
+      the Man Who Can Not Lose?&rdquo; she gained from the audience an easy laugh and
+      from the chorus an excited giggle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When, at the end of the act, Carter went into the lobby to smoke, he was
+      so quickly surrounded that he sought refuge on Broadway. From there, the
+      crowd still following him, he was driven back into his box. Meanwhile, the
+      interest shown in him had not been lost upon the press agent of the
+      theatre, and he at once telephoned to the newspaper offices that Plunger
+      Carter, the book-maker breaker, was at that theatre, and if that the
+      newspapers wanted a chance to interview him on the probable out-come of
+      the classic handicap to be run on the morrow, he, the press agent, would
+      unselfishly assist them. In answer to these hurry calls, reporters of the
+      Ten o&rsquo;Clock Club assembled in the foyer. How far what later followed was
+      due to their presence and to the efforts of the press agent only that
+      gentleman can tell. It was in the second act that Miss Blanche Winter sang
+      her topical song. In it she advised the audience when anxious to settle
+      any question of personal or national interest to &ldquo;Put it up to the Man in
+      the Moon.&rsquo;&rdquo; This night she introduced a verse in which she told of her
+      desire to know which horse on the morrow would win the Suburban, and, in
+      the chorus, expressed her determination to &ldquo;Put it up to the Man in the
+      Moon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Instantly from the back of the house a voice called: &ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you put it
+      up to the Man in the Box?&rdquo; Miss Winter laughed&mdash;the audience laughed; all
+      eyes were turned toward Carter. As though the idea pleased them, from
+      different parts of the house people applauded heartily. In embarrassment,
+      Carter shoved back his chair and pulled the curtain of the box between him
+      and the audience. But he was not so easily to escape. Leaving the
+      orchestra to continue unheeded with the prelude to the next verse, Miss
+      Winter walked slowly and deliberately toward him, smiling mischievously.
+      In burlesque entreaty, she held out her arms. She made a most appealing
+      and charming picture, and of that fact she was well aware. In a voice loud
+      enough to reach every part of the house, she addressed herself to Carter:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Won&rsquo;t you tell ME?&rdquo; she begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Carter, blushing unhappily, shrugged his shoulders in apology.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With a wave of her hand Miss Winter designated the audience. &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; she
+      coaxed, reproachfully, &ldquo;won&rsquo;t you tell THEM?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Again, instantly, with a promptness and unanimity that sounded
+      suspiciously as though it came from ushers well rehearsed, several voice
+      echoed her petition: &ldquo;Give us all a chance!&rdquo; shouted one. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t keep the
+      good things to yourself!&rdquo; reproached another. &ldquo;I want to get rich, TOO!&rdquo;
+       wailed a third. In his heart, Carter prayed they would choke. But the
+      audience, so far from resenting the interruptions, encouraged them, and
+      Carter&rsquo;s obvious discomfort added to its amusement. It proceeded to assail
+      him with applause, with appeals, with commands to &ldquo;speak up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The hand-clapping became general&mdash;insistent. The audience would not be
+      denied. Carter turned to Dolly. In the recesses of the box she was
+      enjoying his predicament. His friends also were laughing at him. Indignant
+      at their desertion, Carter grinned vindictively. &ldquo;All right,&rdquo; he muttered
+      over his shoulder. &ldquo;Since you think it&rsquo;s funny, I&rsquo;ll show you!&rdquo; He pulled
+      his pencil from his watch-chain and, spreading his programme on the ledge
+      of the box, began to write.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the audience there rose a murmur of incredulity, of surprise, of
+      excited interest. In the rear of the house the press agent, after one
+      startled look, doubled up in an ecstasy of joy. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve landed him!&rdquo; he
+      gasped. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve landed him. He&rsquo;s going to fall for it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dolly frantically clasped her husband by the coat-tail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Champ!&rdquo; she implored, &ldquo;what are you doing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Quite calmly, quite confidently, Carter rose. Leaning forward with a nod
+      and a smile, he presented the programme to the beautiful Miss Winter. That
+      lady all but snatched at it. The spot-light was full in her eyes. Turning
+      her back that she might the more easily read, she stood for a moment, her
+      pretty figure trembling with eagerness, her pretty eyes bent upon the
+      programme. The house had grown suddenly still, and with an excited
+      gesture, the leader of the orchestra commanded the music to silence. A man,
+      bursting with impatience, broke the tense quiet. &ldquo;Read it!&rdquo; he shouted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a frightened voice that in the sudden hush held none of its usual
+      confidence, Miss Winter read slowly: &ldquo;The favorite cannot last the
+      distance. Will lead for the mile and give way to Beldame. Proper takes the
+      place. First Mason will show. Beldame will win by a length.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Before she had ceased reading, a dozen men had struggled to their feet and
+      a hundred voice were roaring at her. &ldquo;Read that again!&rdquo; the chorused. Once
+      more Miss Winter read the message, but before she had finished half of
+      those in the front rows were scrambling from their seats and racing up the
+      aisles. Already the reporters were ahead of them, and in the neighborhood
+      not one telephone booth was empty. Within five minutes, in those hotels
+      along the White Way where sporting men are wont to meet, betting
+      commissioners and hand-book men were suddenly assaulted by breathless
+      gentlemen, some in evening dress, some without collars, and some without
+      hats, but all with money to bet against the favorite. And, an hour later,
+      men, bent under stacks of newspaper &ldquo;extras,&rdquo; were vomited from the subway
+      stations into the heart of Broadway, and in raucous tones were shrieking,
+      &ldquo;Winner of the Suburban,&rdquo; sixteen hours before that race was run. That
+      night to every big newspaper office from Maine to California, was flashed
+      the news that Plunger Carter, in a Broadway theatre, had announced that
+      the favorite for the Suburban would be beaten, and, in order, had named
+      the three horses that would first finish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Up and down Broadway, from rathskellers to roof-gardens, in cafes and
+      lobster palaces, on the corners of the cross-roads, in clubs and all-night
+      restaurants, Carter&rsquo;s tip was as a red rag to a bull.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Was the boy drunk, they demanded, or had his miraculous luck turned his
+      head? Otherwise, why would he so publicly utter a prophecy that on the
+      morrow must certainly smother him with ridicule. The explanations were
+      varied. The men in the clubs held he was driven by a desire for notoriety,
+      the men in the street that he was more clever than they guessed, and had
+      made the move to suit his own book, to alter the odds to his own
+      advantage. Others frowned mysteriously. With superstitious faith in his
+      luck, they pointed to his record. &ldquo;Has he ever lost a bet? How do WE know
+      what HE knows?&rdquo; they demanded. &ldquo;Perhaps it&rsquo;s fixed and he knows it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The &ldquo;wise&rdquo; ones howled in derision. &ldquo;A Suburban FIXED!&rdquo; they retorted.
+      &ldquo;You can fix ONE jockey, you can fix TWO; but you can&rsquo;t fix sixteen
+      jockeys! You can&rsquo;t fix Belmont, you can&rsquo;t fix Keene. There&rsquo;s nothing in
+      his picking Beldame, but only a crazy man would pick the horse for the
+      place and to show, and shut out the favorite! The boy ought to be in
+      Matteawan.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Still undisturbed, still confident to those to whom he had promised them,
+      Carter sent a wire. Nor did he forget his old enemy, &ldquo;Sol&rdquo; Burbank. &ldquo;If
+      you want to get some of the money I took,&rdquo; he telegraphed, &ldquo;wipe out the
+      Belmont entry and take all they offer on Delhi. He cannot win.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And that night, when each newspaper called him up at his flat, he made the
+      same answer. &ldquo;The three horses will finish as I said. You can state that I
+      gave the information as I did as a sort of present to the people of New
+      York City.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In the papers the next morning &ldquo;Carter&rsquo;s Tip&rdquo; was the front-page feature.
+      Even those who never in the racing of horses felt any concern could not
+      help but take in the outcome of this one a curious interest. The audacity
+      of the prophecy, the very absurdity of it, presupposing, as it did, occult
+      power, was in itself amusing. And when the curtain rose on the Suburban it
+      was evident that to thousands what the Man Who Could Not Lose had foretold
+      was a serious and inspired utterance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This time his friends gathered around him, not to benefit by his advice,
+      but to protect him. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll mob you!&rdquo; they warned. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll tear the
+      clothes off your back. Better make your getaway now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dolly, with tears in her eyes, sat beside him. Every now and again she
+      touched his hand. Below his box, as around a newspaper office on the night
+      when a president is elected, the people crushed in a turbulent mob. Some
+      mocked and jeered, some who on his tip had risked their every dollar,
+      hailed him hopefully. On every side policemen, fearful of coming trouble,
+      hemmed him in. Carter was bored extremely, heartily sorry he had on the
+      night before given way to what he now saw as a perverse impulse. But he
+      still was confident, still undismayed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To all eyes, except those of Dolly, he was of all those at the track the
+      least concerned. To her he turned and, in a low tone, spoke swiftly. &ldquo;I am
+      so sorry,&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;But, indeed, indeed, I can&rsquo;t lose. You must have
+      faith in me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In you, yes,&rdquo; returned Dolly in a whisper, &ldquo;but in your dreams, no!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The horses were passing on their way to the post. Carter brought his face
+      close to hers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to break my promise,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and make one more bet, this one
+      with you. I bet you a kiss that I&rsquo;m right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Dolly, holding back her tears, smiled mournfully. &ldquo;Make it a hundred,&rdquo; she
+      said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Half of the forty thousand at the track had backed Delhi, the other half,
+      following Carter&rsquo;s luck and his confidence in proclaiming his convictions,
+      had backed Beldame. Many hundred had gone so far as to bet that the three
+      horses he had named would finish as he had foretold. But, in spite of
+      Carter&rsquo;s tip, Delhi still was the favorite, and when the thousands saw the
+      Keene polka-dots leap to the front, and by two lengths stay there, for the
+      quarter, the half, and for the three-quarters, the air was shattered with
+      jubilant, triumphant yells. And then suddenly, with the swiftness of a
+      moving picture, in the very moment of his victory, Beldame crept up on the
+      favorite, drew alongside, drew ahead passed him, and left him beaten. It
+      was at the mile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The night before a man had risen in a theatre and said to two thousand
+      people: &ldquo;The favorite will lead for the mile, and give way to Beldame.&rdquo;
+       Could they have believed him, the men who now cursed themselves might for
+      the rest of their lives have lived upon their winnings. Those who had
+      followed his prophecy faithfully, superstitiously, now shrieked in happy,
+      riotous self-congratulation. &ldquo;At the MILE!&rdquo; they yelled. &ldquo;He TOLD you, at
+      the MILE!&rdquo; They turned toward Carter and shook Panama hats at him. &ldquo;Oh,
+      you Carter!&rdquo; they shrieked lovingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was more than a race the crowd was watching now, it was the working out
+      of a promise. And when Beldame stood off Proper&rsquo;s rush, and Proper fell to
+      second, and First Mason followed three lengths in the rear, and in that
+      order they flashed under the wire, the yells were not that a race had been
+      won, but that a prophecy had been fulfilled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of the thousands that cheered Carter and fell upon him and indeed did tear
+      his clothes off his back, one of his friends alone was sufficiently
+      unselfish to think of what it might, mean to Carter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Champ!&rdquo; roared his friend, pounding him on both shoulders. &ldquo;You old
+      wizard! I win ten thousand! How much do you win?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Carter cast a swift glance at Dolly. He said, &ldquo;I win much more than that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      And Dolly, raising her eyes to his, nodded and smiled contentedly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
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+Project Gutenberg Etext of The Man Who Could Not Lose, by Davis
+#13 in our series by Richard Harding Davis
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+The Man Who Could Not Lose
+
+by Richard Harding Davis
+
+May, 1999  [Etext #1760]
+
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+Project Gutenberg Etext of The Man Who Could Not Lose, by Davis
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+
+THE MAN WHO COULD NOT LOSE
+
+by Richard Harding Davis
+
+
+
+The Carters had married in haste and refused to repent at leisure.
+So blindly were they in love, that they considered their marriage
+their greatest asset. The rest of the world, as represented by
+mutual friends, considered it the only thing that could be urged
+against either of them. While single, each had been popular. As a
+bachelor, young "Champ" Carter had filled his modest place
+acceptably. Hostesses sought him for dinners and week-end parties,
+men of his own years, for golf and tennis, and young girls liked
+him because when he talked to one of them he never talked of
+himself, or let his eyes wander toward any other girl. He had been
+
+brought up by a rich father in an expensive way, and the rich
+father had then died leaving Champneys alone in the world, with no
+money, and with even a few of his father's debts. These debts of
+honor the son, ever since leaving Yale, had been paying off. It had
+kept him very poor, for Carter had elected to live by his pen, and,
+though he wrote very carefully and slowly, the editors of the
+magazines had been equally careful and slow in accepting what he
+wrote.
+
+With an income so uncertain that the only thing that could be said
+of it with certainty was that it was too small to support even
+himself, Carter should not have thought of matrimony. Nor, must it
+be said to his credit, did he think of it until the girl came along
+that he wanted to marry.
+
+The trouble with Dolly Ingram was her mother. Her mother was a
+really terrible person. She was quite impossible. She was a social
+leader, and of such importance that visiting princes and society
+reporters, even among themselves, did not laugh at her. Her
+visiting list was so small that she did not keep a social
+secretary, but, it was said, wrote her invitations herself.
+Stylites on his pillar was less exclusive. Nor did he take his
+exalted but lonely position with less sense of humor. When Ingram
+died and left her many millions to dispose of absolutely as she
+pleased, even to the allowance she should give their daughter, he
+left her with but one ambition unfulfilled. That was to marry her
+Dolly to an English duke. Hungarian princes, French marquises,
+Italian counts, German barons, Mrs. Ingram could not see. Her
+son-in-law must be a duke. She had her eyes on two, one somewhat
+shopworn, and the other a bankrupt; and in training, she had one
+just coming of age. Already she saw her self a sort of a dowager
+duchess by marriage, discussing with real dowager duchesses the way
+to bring up teething earls and viscounts. For three years in Europe
+Mrs.Ingram had been drilling her daughter for the part she intended
+her to play. But, on returning to her native land, Dolly, who
+possessed all the feelings, thrills, and heart-throbs of which her
+mother was ignorant, ungratefully fell deeply in love with
+Champneys Carter, and he with her. It was always a question of
+controversy between them as to which had first fallen in love with
+the other. As a matter of history, honors were even.
+
+He first saw her during a thunder storm, in the paddock at the
+races, wearing a rain-coat with the collar turned up and a Panama
+hat with the brim turned down. She was talking, in terms of
+affectionate familiarity, with Cuthbert's two-year- old, The Scout.
+The Scout had just lost a race by a nose, and Dolly was holding the
+nose against her cheek and comforting him. The two made a charming
+picture, and, as Carter stumbled upon it and halted, the race-horse
+lowered his eyes and seemed to say: "Wouldn't YOU throw a race for
+this?" And the girl raised her eyes and seemed to say: "What a
+nice-looking, bright-looking young man! Why don't I know who you
+are?"
+
+So, Carter ran to find Cuthbert, and told him The Scout had gone
+lame. When, on their return, Miss Ingram refused to loosen her hold
+on The Scout's nose, Cuthbert apologetically mumbled Carter's name,
+and in some awe Miss Ingram's name, and then, to his surprise, both
+young people lost interest in The Scout, and wandered away together
+into the rain.
+
+After an hour, when they parted at the club stand, for which Carter
+could not afford a ticket, he asked wistfully: "Do you often come
+racing?" and Miss Ingram said: "Do you mean, am I coming
+to-morrow?"
+
+"I do!" said Carter.
+
+"Then, why didn't you say that?" inquired Miss Ingram. "Otherwise
+I mightn't have come. I have the Holland House coach for to-morrow,
+and, if you'll join us, I'll save a place for you, and you can sit
+in our box.
+
+"I've lived so long abroad," she explained, "that I'm afraid of not
+being simple and direct like other American girls. Do you think
+I'll get on here at home? "
+
+"If you get on with every one else as well as you've got on with
+me," said Carter morosely, I will shoot myself."
+
+Miss Ingram smiled thoughtfully. "At eleven, then," she said, "in
+front of the Holland House."
+
+Carter walked away with a flurried, heated suffocation around his
+heart and a joyous lightness in his feet. Of the first man he met
+he demanded, "Who was the beautiful girl in the rain-coat?" And
+when the man told him, Carter left him without speaking. For she
+was quite the richest girl in America. But the next day that fault
+seemed to distress her so little that Carter, also, refused to
+allow it to rest on his conscience, and they were very happy. And
+each saw that they were happy because they were together.
+
+The ridiculous mother was not present at the races, but after
+Carter began to call at their house and was invited to dinner, Mrs.
+Ingram received him with her habitual rudeness. As an impediment in
+the success of her ambition she never considered him. As a boy
+friend of her daughter's, she classed him with "her" lawyer and
+"her" architect and a little higher than the "person" who arranged
+the flowers. Nor, in her turn, did Dolly consider her mother; for
+within two months another matter of controversy between Dolly and
+Carter was as to who had first proposed to the other. Carter
+protested there never had been any formal proposal, that from the
+first they had both taken it for granted that married they would
+be. But Dolly insisted that because he had been afraid of her
+money, or her mother, he had forced her to propose to him.
+
+"You could not have loved me very much," she complained, "if you'd
+let a little thing like money make you hesitate."
+
+"It's not a little thing," suggested Carter. "They say it's several
+millions, and it happens to be YOURS. If it were MINE, now!"
+"Money," said Dolly sententiously, "is given people to make them
+happy, not to make them miserable."
+
+"Wait until I sell my stories to the magazines," said Carter, "and
+then I will be independent and can support you."
+
+The plan did not strike Dolly as one likely to lead to a hasty
+marriage. But he was sensitive about his stories, and she did not
+wish to hurt his feelings.
+
+"Let's get married first," she suggested, "and then I can BUY you
+a magazine. We'll call it CARTER'S MAGAZINE and we will print
+nothing in it but your stories. Then we can laugh at the editors!"
+
+"Not half as loud as they will," said Carter.
+
+With three thousand dollars in bank and three stories accepted and
+seventeen still to hear from, and with Dolly daily telling him that
+it was evident he did not love her, Carter decided they were ready,
+hand in hand, to leap into the sea of matrimony. His interview on
+the subject with Mrs. Ingram was most painful. It lasted during the
+time it took her to walk out of her drawing-room to the foot of her
+staircase. She spoke to herself, and the only words of which Carter
+was sure were "preposterous" and "intolerable insolence." Later in
+the morning she sent a note to his flat, forbidding him not only
+her daughter, but the house in which her daughter lived, and even
+the use of the United States mails and the New York telephone
+wires. She described his conduct in words that, had they come from
+a man, would have afforded Carter every excuse for violent
+exercise.
+
+Immediately in the wake of the note arrived Dolly, in tears, and
+carrying a dressing-case.
+
+"I have left mother!" she announced. "And I have her car
+downstairs, and a clergyman in it, unless he has run away. He
+doesn't want to marry us, because he's afraid mother will stop
+supporting his flower mission. You get your hat and take me where
+he can marry us. No mother can talk about the man I love the way
+mother talked about you, and think I won't marry him the same day!"
+
+Carter, with her mother's handwriting still red before his eyes,
+and his self-love shaken with rage flourished the letter.
+
+"And no mother," he shouted, "can call ME a 'fortune-hunter' and a
+'cradle-robber' and think I'll make good by marrying her daughter!
+Not until she BEGS me to!"
+
+Dolly swept toward him like a summer storm. Her eyes were wet and
+flashing. "Until WHO begs you to?" she demanded. "WHO are you
+marrying; mother or me?"
+
+"If I marry you," cried Carter, frightened but also greatly
+excited, "your mother won't give you a penny!"
+
+"And that," taunted Dolly, perfectly aware that she was ridiculous,
+"is why you won't marry me!"
+
+For an instant, long enough to make her blush with shame and
+happiness, Carter grinned at her. "Now, just for that," he said, "I
+won't kiss you, and I WILL marry you!" But, as a matter of fact, he
+DID kiss her. Then he gazed happily around his small sitting-room.
+"Make yourself at home here," he directed, "while I pack my bag."
+
+"I MEAN to make myself very much at home here," said Dolly
+joyfully, "for the rest of my life."
+
+From the recesses of the flat Carter called: "The rent's paid only
+till September. After that we live in a hall bedroom and cook on a
+gas-stove. And that's no idle jest, either."
+
+Fearing the publicity of the City Hall license bureau, they
+released the clergyman, much to the relief of that gentleman, and
+told the chauffeur to drive across the State line into Connecticut.
+
+"It's the last time we can borrow your mother's car," said Carter,
+"and we'd better make it go as far as we can."
+
+It was one of those days in May. Blue was the sky and sunshine was
+in the air, and in the park little girls from the tenements, in
+white, were playing they were queens. Dolly wanted to kidnap two of
+them for bridesmaids. In Harlem they stopped at a jeweler's shop,
+and Carter got out and bought a wedding-ring.
+
+In the Bronx were dogwood blossoms and leaves of tender green and
+beds of tulips, and along the Boston Post Road, on their right, the
+Sound flashed in the sunlight; and on their left, gardens, lawns,
+and orchards ran with the road, and the apple trees were masses of
+pink and white.
+
+Whenever a car approached from the rear, Carter pretended it was
+Mrs. Ingram coming to prevent the elopement, and Dolly clung to
+him. When the car had passed, she forgot to stop clinging to him.
+
+In Greenwich Village they procured a license, and a magistrate
+married them, and they were a little frightened and greatly happy
+and, they both discovered simultaneously, outrageously hungry. So
+they drove through Bedford Village to South Salem, and lunched at
+the Horse and Hounds Inn, on blue and white china, in the same room
+where Major Andre was once a prisoner. And they felt very sorry for
+Major Andre, and for everybody who had not been just married that
+morning. And after lunch they sat outside in the garden and fed
+lumps of sugar to a charming collie and cream to a fat gray cat.
+
+They decided to start housekeeping in Carter's flat, and so turned
+back to New York, this time following the old coach road through
+North Castle to White Plains, across to Tarrytown, and along the
+bank of the Hudson into Riverside Drive. Millions and millions of
+friendly folk, chiefly nurse- maids and traffic policemen, waved to
+them, and for some reason smiled.
+
+"The joke of it is," declared Carter, "they don't know! The most
+wonderful event of the century has just passed into history. We are
+married, and nobody knows!"
+
+But when the car drove away from in front of Carter's door, they
+saw on top of it two old shoes and a sign reading: "We have just
+been married." While they had been at luncheon, the chauffeur had
+risen to the occasion.
+
+"After all," said Carter soothingly, "he meant no harm. And it's
+the only thing about our wedding yet that seems legal."
+
+Three months later two very unhappy young people faced starvation
+in the sitting-room of Carter's flat. Gloom was written upon the
+countenance of each, and the heat and the care that comes when one
+desires to live, and lacks the wherewithal to fulfill that desire,
+had made them pallid and had drawn black lines under Dolly's eyes.
+
+Mrs. Ingram had played her part exactly as her dearest friends had
+said she would. She had sent to Carter's flat, seven trunks filled
+with Dolly's clothes, eighteen hats, and another most unpleasant
+letter. In this, on the sole condition that Dolly would at once
+leave her husband, she offered to forgive and to support her.
+
+To this Dolly composed eleven scornful answers, but finally decided
+that no answer at all was the most scornful.
+
+She and Carter then proceeded joyfully to waste his three thousand
+dollars with that contempt for money with which on a honey-moon it
+should always be regarded. When there was no more, Dolly called
+upon her mother's lawyers and inquired if her father had left her
+anything in her own right. The lawyers regretted he had not, but
+having loved Dolly since she was born, offered to advance her any
+money she wanted. They said they felt sure her mother would
+"relent."
+
+"SHE may," said Dolly haughtily. "I WON'T! And my husband can give
+me all I need. I only wanted something of my own, because I'm going
+to make him a surprise present of a new motor-car. The one we are
+using now does not suit us.
+
+This was quite true, as the one they were then using ran through
+the subway.
+
+As summer approached, Carter had suddenly awakened to the fact that
+he soon would be a pauper, and cut short the honey- moon. They
+returned to the flat, and he set forth to look for a position.
+Later, while still looking for it, he spoke of it as a "job." He
+first thought he would like to be an assistant editor of a
+magazine. But he found editors of magazines anxious to employ new
+and untried assistants, especially in June, were very few. On the
+contrary, they explained they were retrenching and cutting down
+expenses--they meant they had discharged all office boys who
+received more than three dollars a week. They further "retrenched,"
+by taking a mean advantage of Carter's having called upon them in
+person, by handing him three or four of his stories--but by this he
+saved his postage-stamps.
+
+Each day, when he returned to the flat, Dolly, who always expected
+each editor would hastily dust off his chair and offer it to her
+brilliant husband, would smile excitedly and gasp, "Well?" and
+Carter would throw the rejected manuscripts on the table and say:
+"At least, I have not returned empty- handed." Then they would
+discover a magazine that neither they nor any one else knew
+existed, and they would hurriedly readdress the manuscripts to that
+periodical, and run to post them at the letter-box on the corner.
+
+"Any one of them, if ACCEPTED," Carter would point out, "might
+bring us in twenty-five dollars. A story of mine once sold for
+forty; so to-night we can afford to dine at a restaurant where wine
+is NOT 'included.'"
+
+Fortunately, they never lost their sense of humor. Otherwise the
+narrow confines of the flat, the evil smells that rose from the
+baked streets, the greasy food of Italian and Hungarian
+restaurants, and the ever-haunting need of money might have crushed
+their youthful spirits. But in time even they found that one, still
+less two, cannot exist exclusively on love and the power to see the
+bright side of things-- especially when there is no bright side.
+They had come to the point where they must borrow money from their
+friends, and that, though there were many who would have opened
+their safes to them, they had agreed was the one thing they would
+not do, or they must starve. The alternative was equally
+distasteful.
+
+Carter had struggled earnestly to find a job. But his inexperience
+and the season of the year were against him. No newspaper wanted a
+dramatic critic when the only shows in town had been running three
+months, and on roof gardens; nor did they want a "cub" reporter
+when veterans were being "laid off" by the dozens. Nor were his
+services desired as a private secretary, a taxicab driver, an agent
+to sell real estate or automobiles or stocks. As no one gave him a
+chance to prove his unfitness for any of these callings, the fact
+that he knew nothing of any of them did not greatly matter. At
+these rebuffs Dolly was distinctly pleased. She argued they proved
+he was intended to pursue his natural career as an author.
+
+That their friends might know they were poor did not affect her,
+but she did not want them to think by his taking up any outside
+"job" that they were poor because as a literary genius he was a
+failure. She believed in his stories. She wanted every one else to
+believe in them. Meanwhile, she assisted him in so far as she could
+by pawning the contents of five of the seven trunks, by learning to
+cook on a " Kitchenette," and to laundry her handkerchiefs and iron
+them on the looking-glass.
+
+They faced each other across the breakfast-table. It was only nine
+o'clock, but the sun beat into the flat with the breath of a
+furnace, and the air was foul and humid.
+
+"I tell you," Carter was saying fiercely, "you look ill. You are
+ill. You must go to the sea-shore. You must visit some of your
+proud, friends at East Hampton or Newport. Then I'll know you're
+happy and I won't worry, and I'll find a job. I don't mind the
+heat-and I'll write you love letters"--he was talking very fast and
+not looking at Dolly--"like those I used to write you, before----"
+
+Dolly raised her hand. "Listen!" she said. "Suppose I leave you.
+What will happen? I'll wake up in a cool, beautiful brass bed,
+won't I--with cretonne window-curtains, and salt air blowing them
+about, and a maid to bring me coffee. And instead of a bathroom
+like yours, next to an elevator shaft and a fire-escape, I'll have
+one as big as a church, and the whole blue ocean to swim in. And
+I'll sit on the rocks in the sunshine and watch the waves and the
+yachts--"
+
+"And grow well again!" cried Carter. "But you'll write to me," he
+added wistfully, "every day, won't you?"
+
+In her wrath, Dolly rose, and from across the table confronted him.
+
+"And what will I be doing on those rocks?" she cried. "You KNOW
+what I'll be doing! I'll be sobbing, and sobbing, and calling out
+to the waves: 'Why did he send me away? Why doesn't he want me?
+Because he doesn't love me. That's why! He doesn't LOVE me!' And
+you DON'T!" cried Dolly. "you DON'T!"
+
+It took him all of three minutes to persuade her she was mistaken.
+
+"Very well, then," sobbed Dolly, "that's settled. And there'll be
+no more talk of sending me away!
+
+"There will NOT!" said Champneys hastily. "We will now," he
+announced, "go into committee of the whole and decide how we are to
+face financial failure. Our assets consist of two stories,
+accepted, but not paid for, and fifteen stories not accepted. In
+cash, he spread upon the table a meagre collection of soiled bills
+and coins. "We have twenty-seven dollars and fourteen cents. That
+is every penny we possess in the world."
+
+Dolly regarded him fixedly and shook her head.
+
+"Is it wicked," she asked, "to love you so?"
+
+"Haven't you been listening to me?" demanded Carter.
+
+Again Dolly shook her head.
+
+"I was watching the way you talk. When your lips move fast they do
+such charming things."
+
+"Do you know," roared Carter, "that we haven't a penny in the
+world, that we have nothing in this flat to eat?"
+
+"I still have five hats," said Dolly.
+
+"We can't eat hats," protested Champneys.
+
+"We can sell hats!" returned Dolly. "They cost eighty dollars
+apiece!"
+
+"When you need money," explained Carter, "I find it's just as hard
+to sell a hat as to eat it."
+
+"Twenty-seven dollars and fourteen cents," repeated Dolly. She
+exclaimed remorsefully: "And you started with three thousand! What
+did I do with it?"
+
+"We both had the time of our lives with it!" said Carter stoutly.
+"And that's all there is to that. Post-mortems," he pointed out,
+"are useful only as guides to the future, and as our future will
+never hold a second three thousand dollars, we needn't worry about
+how we spent the first one. No! What we must consider now is how we
+can grow rich quick, and the quicker and richer, the better.
+Pawning our clothes, or what's left of them, is bad economics.
+There's no use considering how to live from meal to meal. We must
+evolve something big, picturesque, that will bring a fortune. You
+have imagination; I'm supposed to have imagination, we must think
+of a plan to get money, much money. I do not insist on our plan
+being dignified, or even outwardly respectable; so long as it keeps
+you alive, it may be as desperate as--"
+
+"I see!" cried Dolly; "like sending mother Black Hand letters!"
+
+"Blackmail----" began that lady's son-in-law doubtfully.
+
+"Or!" cried Dolly, "we might kidnap Mr. Carnegie when he's walking
+in the park alone, and hold him for ransom. Or"--she rushed on--
+"we might forge a codicil to father's will, and make it say if
+mother shouldn't like the man I want to marry, all of father's
+fortune must go to my husband!"
+
+"Forgery," exclaimed Champneys, "is going further than I----"
+
+"And another plan," interrupted Dolly," that I have always had in
+mind, is to issue a cheaper edition of your book, 'The Dead Heat.'
+The reason the first edition of 'The Dead Heat' didn't sell----"
+
+"Don't tell ME why it didn't sell," said Champneys. "I wrote it!"
+
+"That book," declared Dolly loyally, "was never properly
+advertised. No one knew about it, so no one bought it!"
+
+"Eleven people bought it!" corrected the author.
+
+"We will put it in a paper cover and sell it for fifty cents,"
+cried Dolly. " It's the best detective story I ever read, and
+people have got to know it is the best. So we'll advertise it like
+a breakfast food."
+
+"The idea," interrupted Champneys, "is to make money, not throw it
+away. Besides, we haven't any to throw away. Dolly sighed bitterly.
+
+"If only," she exclaimed, "we had that three thousand dollars back
+again! I'd save SO carefully. It was all my fault. The races took
+it, but it was I took you to the races."
+
+"No one ever had to drag ME to the races," said Carter. " It was
+the way we went that was extravagant. Automobiles by the hour
+standing idle, and a box each day, and----"
+
+"And always backing Dromedary," suggested Dolly. Carter was touched
+on a sensitive spot. "That horse," he protested loudly, "is a
+mighty good horse. Some day----"
+
+"That's what you always said," remarked Dolly, "but he never seems
+to have his day."
+
+"It's strange," said Champneys consciously. "I dreamed of Dromedary
+only last night. Same dream over and over again." Hastily he
+changed the subject.
+
+"For some reason I don't sleep well. I don't know why."
+
+Dolly looked at him with all the love in her eyes of a mother over
+her ailing infant.
+
+"It's worrying over me, and the heat,"' she said. "And the garage
+next door, and the skyscraper going up across the street, might
+have something to do with it. And YOU," she mocked tenderly,
+"wanted to send me to the sea-shore."
+
+Carter was frowning. As though about to speak, he opened his lips,
+and then laughed embarrassedly.
+
+"Out with it," said Dolly, with an encouraging smile. "Did he win?"
+
+Seeing she had read what was in his mind, Carter leaned forward
+eagerly. The ruling passion and a touch of superstition held him in
+their grip.
+
+"He 'win' each time," he whispered. "I saw it as plain as I see
+you. Each time he came up with a rush just at the same place, just
+as they entered the stretch, and each time he won!" He slapped his
+hand disdainfully upon the dirty bills before him. "If I had a
+hundred dollars!"
+
+There was a knock at the door, and Carter opened it to the elevator
+boy with the morning mail. The letters, save one, Carter dropped
+upon the table. That one, with clumsy fingers, he tore open. He
+exclaimed breathlessly: "It's from PLYMPTON'S MAGAZINE! Maybe--I've
+sold a story!" He gave a cry almost of alarm. His voice was as
+solemn as though the letter had announced a death.
+
+"Dolly," he whispered, "it's a check--a check for a HUNDRED
+DOLLARS!"
+
+Guiltily, the two young people looked at each other.
+
+"We've GOT to!" breathed Dolly. "GOT to! If we let TWO signs like
+that pass, we'd be flying in the face of Providence."
+
+With her hands gripping the arms of her chair, she leaned forward,
+her eyes staring into space, her lips moving.
+
+"COME ON, you Dromedary!" she whispered.
+
+They changed the check into five and ten dollar bills, and, as
+Carter was far too excited to work, made an absurdly early start
+for the race-track.
+
+"We might as well get all the fresh air we can," said Dolly.
+"That's all we will get!"
+
+From their reserve fund of twenty-seven dollars which each had
+solemnly agreed with the other would not be risked on race-horses,
+Dolly subtracted a two-dollar bill. This she stuck conspicuously
+across the face of the clock on the mantel.
+
+"Why?" asked Carter.
+
+"When we get back this evening," Dolly explained, "that will be the
+first thing we'll see. It's going to look awfully good!"
+
+This day there was no scarlet car to rush them with refreshing
+swiftness through Brooklyn's parkways and along the Ocean Avenue.
+Instead, they hung to a strap in a cross- town car, changed to the
+ferry, and again to the Long Island Railroad. When Carter halted at
+the special car of the Turf Club, Dolly took his arm and led him
+forward to the day coach.
+
+"But," protested Carter, "when you're spending a hundred dollars
+with one hand, why grudge fifty cents for a parlor- car seat? If
+you're going to be a sport, be a sport." "And if you've got to be
+a piker," said Dolly, don't be ashamed to be a piker. We're not
+spending a hundred dollars because we can afford it, but because
+you dreamt a dream. You didn't dream you were riding in
+parlor-cars! If you did, it's time I woke you."
+
+This day there was for them no box overlooking the finish, no
+club-house luncheon. With the other pikers, they sat in the free
+seats, with those who sat coatless and tucked their handkerchiefs
+inside their collars, and with those who mopped their perspiring
+countenances with rice-paper and marked their cards with a hat-pin.
+Their lunch consisted of a massive ham sandwich with a top dressing
+of mustard.
+
+Dromedary did not run until the fifth race, and the long wait,
+before they could learn their fate, was intolerable. They knew most
+of the horses, and, to pass the time, on each of the first races
+Dolly made imaginary bets. Of these mental wagers, she lost every
+one.
+
+"If you turn out to be as bad a guesser when you're asleep as I am
+when I'm awake," said Dolly, "we're going to lose our fortune."
+
+"I'm weakening!" declared Carter. "A hundred dollars is beginning
+to look to me like an awful lot of money. Twenty- seven dollars,
+and there's only twenty of that left now, is mighty small capital,
+but twenty dollars plus a hundred could keep us alive for a month!"
+
+"Did you, or did you not, dream that Dromedary would win?" demanded
+Dolly sternly.
+
+"I certainly did, several times," said Carter. "But it may be I was
+thinking of the horse. I've lost such a lot on him, my mind may
+have----"
+
+"Did you," interrupted Dolly, "say if you had a hundred dollars
+you'd bet it, and did a hundred dollars walk in through the door
+instantly?"
+
+Carter, reassured, breathed again. " It certainly did!" he
+repeated.
+
+Even in his proud days, Carter had never been able to bet heavily,
+and instead of troubling the club-house commissioners with his
+small wagers, he had, in the ring, bet ready money. Moreover, he
+believed in the ring he obtained more favorable odds, and, when he
+won, it pleased him, instead of waiting until settling day for a
+check, to stand in a line and feel the real money thrust into his
+hand. So, when the fourth race started he rose and raised his hat.
+
+"The time has come," he said.
+
+Without looking at him, Dolly nodded. She was far too tremulous to
+speak.
+
+For several weeks Dromedary had not been placed, and Carter hoped
+for odds of at least ten to one. But, when he pushed his way into
+the arena, he found so little was thought of his choice that as
+high as twenty to one was being offered, and with few takers. The
+fact shattered his confidence. Here were two hundred book-makers,
+trained to their calling, anxious at absurd odds to back their
+opinion that the horse he liked could not win. In the face of such
+unanimous contempt, his dream became fantastic, fatuous. He decided
+he would risk only half of his fortune. Then, should the horse win,
+he still would be passing rich, and should he lose, he would, at
+least, have all of fifty dollars.
+
+With a book-maker he wagered that sum, and then, in unhappy
+indecision, stood, in one hand clutching his ticket that called for
+a potential thousand and fifty dollars, and in the other an actual
+fifty. It was not a place for meditation. From every side men, more
+or less sane, swept upon him, jostled him, and stamped upon him,
+and still, struggling for a foothold, he swayed, hesitating. Then
+he became conscious that the ring was nearly empty, that only a few
+shrieking individuals still ran down the line. The horses were
+going to the post. He must decide quickly. In front of him the
+book- maker cleaned his board, and, as a final appeal, opposite the
+names of three horses chalked thirty to one. Dromedary was among
+them. Such odds could not be resisted. Carter shoved his fifty at
+the man, and to that sum added the twenty dollars still in his
+pocket. They were the last dollars he owned in the world. And
+though he knew they were his last, he was fearful lest the
+book-maker would refuse them. But, mechanically, the man passed
+them over his shoulder.
+
+"And twenty-one hundred to seventy," he chanted.
+
+When Carter took his seat beside Dolly, he was quite cold. Still,
+Dolly did not speak. Out of the corner of her eyes she questioned
+him.
+
+"I got fifty at twenty to one," replied Carter, and seventy at
+thirty!"
+
+In alarm, Dolly turned upon him.
+
+"SEVENTY!" she gasped.
+
+Carter nodded. "All we have," he said. "We have sixty cents left,
+to start life over again!"
+
+As though to encourage him, Dolly placed her finger on her
+race-card.
+
+"His colors," she said, "are 'green cap, green jacket, green and
+white hoops.'"
+
+Through a maze of heat, a half-mile distant, at the starting- gate,
+little spots of color moved in impatient circles. The big,
+good-natured crowd had grown silent, so silent that from the high,
+sun-warmed grass in the infield one could hear the lazy chirp of
+the crickets. As though repeating a prayer, or an incantation,
+Dolly's lips were moving quickly.
+
+"Green cap," she whispered, "green jacket, green and white hoops!"
+
+With a sharp sigh the crowd broke the silence. "They're off!" it
+cried, and leaned forward expectant.
+
+The horses came so fast. To Carter their conduct seemed outrageous.
+It was incredible that in so short a time, at a pace so reckless,
+they would decide a question of such moment. They came bunched
+together, shifting and changing, with, through the dust, flashes of
+blue and gold and scarlet. A jacket of yellow shot out of the dust
+and showed in front; a jacket of crimson followed. So they were at
+the half; so they were at the three-quarters.
+
+The good-natured crowd began to sway, to grumble and murmur, then
+to shout in sharp staccato.
+
+"Can you see him?" begged Dolly.
+
+"No," said Carter. "You don't see him until they reach the
+stretch."
+
+One could hear their hoofs, could see the crimson jockey draw his
+whip. At the sight, for he rode the favorite, the crowd gave a
+great gasp of concern.
+
+"Oh, you Gold Heels!" it implored.
+
+Under the whip, Gold Heels drew even with the yellow jacket; stride
+by stride, they fought it out alone.
+
+"Gold Heels!" cried the crowd.
+
+Behind them, in a curtain of dust, pounded the field. It charged in
+a flying wedge, like a troop of cavalry. Dolly, searching for a
+green jacket, saw, instead, a rainbow wave of color that, as it
+rose and fell, sprang toward her in great leaps, swallowing the
+track.
+
+"Gold Heels!" yelled the crowd.
+
+The field swept into the stretch. Without moving his eyes, Carter
+caught Dolly by the wrist and pointed. As though giving a signal,
+he shot his free hand into the air.
+
+"Now!" he shouted.
+
+From the curtain of dust, as lightning strikes through a cloud,
+darted a great, raw-boned, ugly chestnut. Like the Empire Express,
+he came rocking, thundering, spurning the ground. At his coming,
+Gold Heels, to the eyes of the crowd, seemed to falter, to slacken,
+to stand still. The crowd gave a great cry of amazement, a yell of
+disgust. The chestnut drew even with Gold Heels, passed him, and
+swept under the wire. Clinging to his neck was a little jockey in
+a green cap, green jacket, and hoops of green and white.
+
+Dolly's hand was at her side, clutching the bench. Carter's hand
+still clasped it. Neither spoke or looked at the other. For an
+instant, while the crowd, no longer so good-natured, mocked and
+jeered at itself, the two young people sat quite still, staring at
+the green field, at the white clouds rolling from the ocean. Dolly
+drew a long breath.
+
+"Let's go!" she gasped. "Let's thank him first, and then take me
+home!"
+
+They found Dromedary in the paddock, and thanked him, and Carter
+left Dolly with him, while he ran to collect his winnings. When he
+returned, he showed her a sheaf of yellow bills, and as they ran
+down the covered board walk to the gate, they skipped and danced.
+
+Dolly turned toward the train drawn up at the entrance.
+
+"Not with me!" shouted Carter. "We're going home in the reddest,
+most expensive, fastest automobile I can hire!"
+
+In the "hack" line of motor-cars was one that answered those
+requirements, and they fell into it as though it were their own.
+
+"To the Night and Day Bank!" commanded Carter.
+
+With the genial democracy of the race-track, the chauffeur lifted
+his head to grin appreciatively. "That listens good to me!" he
+said.
+
+"I like him!" whispered Dolly. "Let's buy him and the car."
+
+On the way home, they bought many cars; every car they saw, that
+they liked, they bought. They bought, also, several houses, and a
+yacht that they saw from the ferry-boat. And as soon as they had
+deposited the most of their money in the bank, they went to a
+pawnshop in Sixth Avenue and bought back many possessions that they
+had feared they never would see again.
+
+When they entered the flat, the thing they first beheld was Dolly's
+two-dollar bill.
+
+"What," demanded Carter, with repugnance, "is that strange piece of
+paper?"
+
+Dolly examined it carefully. "I think it is a kind of money," she
+said, used by the lower classes."
+
+They dined on the roof at Delmonico's. Dolly wore the largest of
+the five hats still unsold, and Carter selected the dishes entirely
+according to which was the most expensive. Every now and again they
+would look anxiously down across the street at the bank that held
+their money. They were nervous lest it should take fire.
+
+"We can be extravagant to-night," said Dolly, "because we owe it to
+Dromedary to celebrate. But from to-night on we must save. We've
+had an awful lesson. What happened to us last month must never
+happen again. We were down to a two-dollar bill. Now we have
+twenty-five hundred across the street, and you have several
+hundreds in your pocket. On that we can live easily for a year.
+Meanwhile, you can write 'the' great American novel without having
+to worry about money, or to look for a steady job. And then your
+book will come out, and you will be famous, and rich, and----"
+
+"Passing on from that," interrupted Carter, "the thing of first
+importance is to get you out of that hot, beastly flat. I propose
+we start to-morrow for Cape Cod. I know a lot of fishing villages
+there where we could board and lodge for twelve dollars a week, and
+row and play tennis and live in our bathing suits."
+
+Dolly assented with enthusiasm, and during the courses of the
+dinner they happily discussed Cape Cod from Pocasset to Yarmouth,
+and from Sandwich to Provincetown. So eager were they to escape,
+that Carter telephoned the hallman at his club to secure a cabin
+for the next afternoon on the Fall River boat. As they sat over
+their coffee in the cool breeze, with, in the air, the scent of
+flowers and the swing of music, and with, at their feet, the lights
+of the great city, the world seemed very bright.
+
+"It has been a great day," sighed Carter. "And if I hadn't had
+nervous prostration I would have enjoyed it. That race- course is
+always cool, and there were some fine finishes. I noticed two
+horses that would bear watching, Her Highness and Glowworm. If we
+weren't leaving to-morrow, I'd be inclined----" Dolly regarded him
+with eyes of horror.
+
+"Champneys Carter!" she exclaimed. As she said it, it sounded like
+"Great Jehoshaphat!"
+
+Carter protested indignantly. "I only said, "he explained, "if I
+were following the races, I'd watch those horses. Don't worry!" he
+exclaimed. "I know when to stop."
+
+The next morning they took breakfast on the tiny terrace of a
+restaurant overlooking Bryant Park, where, during the first days of
+their honeymoon, they had always breakfasted. For sentimental
+reasons they now revisited it. But Dolly was eager to return at
+once to the flat and pack, and Carter seemed distraught. He
+explained that he had had a bad night.
+
+"I'm so sorry," sympathized Dolly, "but to-night you will have a
+fine sleep going up the Sound. Any more nightmares?" she asked.
+
+"Nightmares!" exploded Carter fiercely. "Nightmares they certainly
+were! I dreamt two of the nightmares won! I saw them, all night,
+just as I saw Dromedary, Her Highness and Glowworm, winning,
+winning, winning!"
+
+"Those were the horses you spoke about last night," said Dolly
+severely. "After so wonderful a day, of course you dreamt of
+racing, and those two horses were in your mind. That's the
+explanation."
+
+They returned to the flat and began, industriously, to pack. About
+twelve o'clock Carter, coming suddenly into the bedroom where Dolly
+was alone, found her reading the MORNING TELEGRAPH. It was open at
+the racing page of "past performances."
+
+She dropped the paper guiltily. Carter kicked a hat-box out of his
+way and sat down on a trunk.
+
+"I don't see," he began, "why we can't wait one more day. We'd be
+just as near the ocean at Sheepshead Bay race-track as on a Fall
+River boat, and----" He halted and frowned unhappily. "We needn't
+bet more than ten dollars," he begged.
+
+"Of course," declared Dolly, "if they SHOULD win, you'll always
+blame ME!" Carter's eyes shone hopefully.
+
+"And," continued Dolly, I can't bear to have you blame me. So----"
+
+"Get your hat!" shouted Carter, "or we'll miss the first race."
+
+Carter telephoned for a cab, and as they were entering it said
+guiltily: "I've got to stop at the bank."
+
+"You have NOT!" announced Dolly. "That money is to keep us alive
+while you write the great American novel. I'm glad to spend another
+day at the races, and I'm willing to back your dreams as far as ten
+dollars, but for no more."
+
+"If my dreams come true," warned Carter, you'll be awfully sorry."
+
+"Not I," said Dolly. "I'll merely send you to bed, and you can go
+on dreaming."
+
+When Her Highness romped home, an easy winner, the look Dolly
+turned upon her husband was one both of fear and dismay.
+
+"I don't like it!" she gasped. "It's--it's uncanny. It gives me a
+creepy feeling. It makes you seem sort of supernatural. And oh,"
+she cried, "if only I had let you bet all you had with you!"
+
+"I did," stammered Carter, in extreme agitation. " I bet four
+hundred. I got five to one, Dolly," he gasped, in awe; "we've won
+two thousand dollars."
+
+Dolly exclaimed rapturously: "We'll put it all in bank," she cried.
+
+"We'll put it all on Glowworm!" said her husband.
+
+"Champ!" begged Dolly. "Don't push your luck. Stop while----"
+Carter shook his head.
+
+"It's NOT luck!" he growled. "It's a gift, it's second sight, it's
+prophecy. I've been a full-fledged clairvoyant all my life, and
+didn't know it. Anyway, I'm a sport, and after two of my dreams
+breaking right, I've got to back the third one!"
+
+Glowworm was at ten to one, and at those odds the book-makers to
+whom he first applied did not care to take so large a sum as he
+offered. Carter found a book-maker named "Sol" Burbank who, at
+those odds, accepted his two thousand.
+
+When Carter returned to collect his twenty-two thousand, there was
+some little delay while Burbank borrowed a portion of it. He looked
+at Carter curiously and none too genially.
+
+"Wasn't it you," he asked, "that had that thirty-to-one shot
+yesterday on Dromedary?" Carter nodded somewhat guiltily. A man in
+the crowd volunteered: "And he had Her Highness in the second, too,
+for four hundred."
+
+"You've made a good day," said Burbank. "Give me a chance to get my
+money back to-morrow.
+
+"I'm sorry," said Carter. "I'm leaving New York to-morrow."
+
+The same scarlet car bore them back triumphant to the bank.
+
+"Twenty-two thousand dollars?" gasped Carter, "in CASH! How in the
+name of all that's honest can we celebrate winning twenty-two
+thousand dollars? We can't eat more than one dinner; we can't drink
+more than two quarts of champagne--not without serious results."
+
+"I'll tell you what we can do!" cried Dolly excitedly. "We can sail
+to-morrow on the CAMPANIA!"
+
+"Hurrah!" shouted Carter. "We'll have a second honey-moon. We'll
+shoot up London and Paris. We'll tear slices out of the map of
+Europe. You'll ride in one motor-car, I'll ride in another, we'll
+have a maid and a valet in a third, and we'll race each other all
+the way to Monte Carlo. And, there, I'll dream of the winning
+numbers, and we'll break the bank. When does the CAMPANIA sail?"
+
+"At noon," said Dolly.
+
+"At eight we will be on board," said Carter.
+
+But that night in his dreams he saw King Pepper, Confederate, and
+Red Wing each win a race. And in the morning neither the engines of
+the CAMPANIA nor the entreaties of Dolly could keep him from the
+race-track.
+
+"I want only six thousand," he protested. "You can do what you like
+with the rest, but I am going to bet six thousand on the first one
+of those three to start. If he loses, I give you my word I'll not
+bet another cent, and we'll sail on Saturday. If he wins Out, I'll
+put all I make on the two others."
+
+"Can't you see," begged Dolly, "that your dreams are just a rehash
+of what you think during the day? You have been playing in
+wonderful luck, that's all. Each of those horses is likely to win
+his race. When he does you will have more faith than ever in your
+silly dreams----"
+
+"My silly dreams," said Carter grinning, "are carrying you to
+Europe, first class, by the next steamer."
+
+They had been talking while on their way to the bank. When Dolly
+saw she could not alter his purpose, she made him place the
+nineteen thousand that remained, after he had taken out the six
+thousand, in her name. She then drew out the entire amount.
+
+"You told me," said Dolly, smiling anxiously, I could do what I
+liked with it. Maybe I have dreams also. Maybe I mean to back
+them."
+
+She drove away, mysteriously refusing to tell him what she intended
+to do. When they met at luncheon, she was still much excited, still
+bristling with a concealed secret.
+
+"Did you back your dream?" asked Carter.
+
+Dolly nodded happily.
+
+"And when am I to know?"
+
+"You will read of it," said Dolly, "to-morrow, in the morning
+papers. It's all quite correct. My lawyers arranged it."
+
+"Lawyers!" gasped her husband. "You're not arranging to lock me in
+a private madhouse, are you?"
+
+"No," laughed Dolly; "but when I told them how I intended to invest
+the money they came near putting me there."
+
+"Didn't they want to know how you suddenly got so rich?" asked
+Carter.
+
+"They did. I told them it came from my husband's 'books'! It was a
+very 'near' false-hood."
+
+"It was worse," said Carter. "It was a very poor pun."
+
+As in their honey-moon days they drove proudly to the track, and
+when Carter had placed Dolly in a box large enough for twenty, he
+pushed his way into the crowd around the stand of "Sol" Burbank.
+That veteran of the turf welcomed him gladly.
+
+"Coming to give me my money back?" he called.
+
+"No, to take some away," said Carter, handing him his six thousand.
+
+Without apparently looking at it, Burbank passed it to his cashier.
+"King Pepper, twelve to six thousand," he called.
+
+When King Pepper won, and Carter moved around the ring with
+eighteen thousand dollars in thousand and five hundred dollar bills
+in his fist, he found himself beset by a crowd of curious, eager
+"pikers." They both impeded his operations and acted as a
+body-guard. Confederate was an almost prohibitive favorite at one
+to three, and in placing eighteen thousand that he might win six,
+Carter found little difficulty. When Confederate won, and he
+started with his twenty-four thousand to back Red Wing, the crowd
+now engulfed him. Men and boys who when they wagered five and ten
+dollars were risking their all, found in the sight of a young man
+offering bets in hundreds and thousands a thrilling and fascinating
+spectacle.
+
+To learn what horse he was playing and at what odds, racing touts
+and runners for other book-makers and individual speculators leaped
+into the mob that surrounded him, and then, squirming their way
+out, ran shrieking down the line. In ten minutes, through the bets
+of Carter and those that backed his luck, the odds against Red Wing
+were forced down from fifteen to one to even money. His approach
+was hailed by the book-makers either with jeers or with shouts of
+welcome. Those who had lost demanded a chance to regain their
+money. Those with whom he had not bet, found in that fact
+consolation, and chaffed the losers. Some curtly refused even the
+smallest part of his money.
+
+"Not with me!" they laughed. From stand to stand the layers of odds
+taunted him, or each other. "Don't touch it, it's tainted!" they
+shouted. "Look out, Joe, he's the Jonah man?" Or, "Come at me
+again!" they called. "And, once more!" they challenged as they
+reached for a thousand-dollar bill.
+
+And, when in time, each shook his head and grumbled: "That's all I
+want," or looked the other way, the mob around Carter jeered.
+
+"He's fought 'em to a stand-still!" they shouted jubilantly. In
+their eyes a man who alone was able and willing to wipe the name of
+a horse off the blackboards was a hero.
+
+To the horror of Dolly, instead of watching the horses parade past,
+the crowd gathered in front of her box and pointed and stared at
+her. From the club-house her men friends and acquaintances invaded
+it.
+
+"Has Carter gone mad?" they demanded. "He's dealing out
+thousand-dollar bills like cigarettes. He's turned the ring into a
+wheat Pit!"
+
+When he reached the box a sun-burned man in a sombrero blocked his
+way.
+
+"I'm the owner of Red Wing," he explained, "bred him and trained
+him myself. I know he'll be lucky if he gets the place. You're
+backing him in thousands to WIN. What do you know about him?"
+
+"Know he will win," said Carter.
+
+The veteran commissioner of the club stand buttonholed him. "Mr.
+Carter," he begged, "why don't you bet through me? I'll give you as
+good odds as they will in that ring. You don't want your clothes
+torn off you and your money taken from you."
+
+"They haven't taken such a lot of it yet," said Carter.
+
+When Red Wing won, the crowd beneath the box, the men in the box,
+and the people standing around it, most of whom had followed
+Carter's plunge, cheered and fell over him, to shake hands and
+pound him on the back. From every side excited photographers
+pointed cameras, and Lander's band played: " Every Little Bit Added
+to What You've Got Makes Just a Little Bit More." As he left the
+box to collect his money, a big man with a brown mustache and two
+smooth-shaven giants closed in around him, as tackles interfere for
+the man who has the ball. The big man took him by the arm. Carter
+shook himself free.
+
+"What's the idea?" he demanded.
+
+"I'm Pinkerton," said the big man genially. "You need a body-
+guard. If you've got an empty seat in your car, I'll drive home
+with you. From Cavanaugh they borrowed a book-maker's hand-bag and
+stuffed it with thousand-dollar bills. When they stepped into the
+car the crowd still surrounded them.
+
+"He's taking it home in a trunk!" they yelled.
+
+That night the "sporting extras" of the afternoon papers gave
+prominence to the luck at the races of Champneys Carter. From
+Cavanaugh and the book-makers, the racing reporters had gathered
+accounts of his winnings. They stated that in three successive
+days, starting with one hundred dollars, he had at the end of the
+third day not lost a single bet, and that afternoon, on the last
+race alone, he had won sixty to seventy thousand dollars. With the
+text, they "ran" pictures of Carter at the track, of Dolly in her
+box, and of Mrs. Ingram in a tiara and ball-dress.
+
+Mother-in-law WILL be pleased cried Carter. In some alarm as to
+what the newspapers might say on the morrow, he ordered that in the
+morning a copy of each be sent to his room. That night in his
+dreams he saw clouds of dust-covered jackets and horses with
+sweating flanks, and one of them named Ambitious led all the rest.
+When he woke, he said to Dolly: "That horse Ambitious will win
+to-day."
+
+"He can do just as he likes about THAT! "replied Dolly. "I have
+something on my mind much more important than horse- racing. To-day
+you are to learn how I spent your money. It's to be in the morning
+papers."
+
+When he came to breakfast, Dolly was on her knees. For his
+inspection she had spread the newspapers on the floor, opened at an
+advertisement that appeared in each. In the Centre of a half-page
+of white paper were the lines:
+
+SOLD OUT IN ONE DAY!
+
+ENTIRE FIRST EDITION
+
+THE DEAD HEAT
+
+BY
+
+CHAMPNEYS CARTER
+
+SECOND EDITION ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND
+
+In Heaven's name! " roared Carter. "What does this mean?"
+
+"It means," cried Dolly tremulously, "I'm backing my dream. I've
+always believed in your book. Now, I'm backing it. Our lawyers sent
+me to an advertising agent. His name is Spink, and he is awfully
+clever. I asked him if he could advertise a book so as to make it
+sell. He said with my money and his ideas he could sell last year's
+telephone book to people who did not own a telephone, and who had
+never learned to read. He is proud of his ideas. One of them was
+buying out the first edition. Your publishers told him your book
+was 'waste paper,' and that he could have every copy in stock for
+the cost of the plates. So he bought the whole edition. That's how
+it was sold out in one day. Then we ordered a second edition of one
+hundred thousand, and they're printing it now.
+
+"The presses have been working all night to meet the demand!"
+
+"But," cried Carter, " there isn't any demand! "
+
+"There will be," said Dolly, "when five million people read our
+advertisements."
+
+She dragged him to the window and pointed triumphantly into the
+street.
+
+"See that!" she said. "Mr. Spink sent them here for me to inspect."
+
+Drawn up in a line that stretched from Fifth Avenue to Broadway
+were an army of sandwich men. On the boards they carried were the
+words: "Read 'The Dead Heat.' Second Edition. One Hundred
+Thousand!" On the fence in front of the building going up across
+the street, in letters a foot high, Carter again read the name of
+his novel. In letters in size more modest, but in colors more
+defiant, it glared at him from ash-cans and barrels.
+
+"How much does this cost?" he gasped.
+
+"It cost every dollar you had in bank," said Dolly, "and before we
+are through it will cost you twice as much more. Mr. Spink is only
+waiting to hear from me before he starts spending fifty thousand
+dollars; that's only half of what you won on Red Wing. I'm only
+waiting for you to make me out a check before I tell Spink to start
+spending it."
+
+In a dazed state Carter drew a check for fifty thousand dollars and
+meekly handed it to his wife. They carried it themselves to the
+office of Mr. Spink. On their way, on every side they saw evidences
+of his handiwork. On walls, on scaffolding, on bill-boards were
+advertisements of "The Dead Heat." Over Madison Square a huge kite
+as large as a Zeppelin air-ship painted the name of the book
+against the sky, on "dodgers" it floated in the air, on handbills
+it stared up from the gutters.
+
+Mr. Spink was a nervous young man with a bald head and eye-
+glasses. He grasped the check as a general might welcome fifty
+thousand fresh troops.
+
+"Reinforcements!" he cried. "Now, watch me. Now I can do things
+that are big, national, Napoleonic. We can't get those books bound
+inside of a week, but meanwhile orders will be pouring in, people
+will be growing crazy for it. Every man, woman, and child in
+Greater New York will want a copy. I've sent out fifty boys dressed
+as jockeys on horseback to ride neck and neck up and down every
+avenue. 'The Dead Heat' is printed on the saddle-cloth. Half of
+them have been arrested already. It's a little idea of my own."
+
+"But," protested Carter, "it's not a racing story, it's a detective
+story!"
+
+"The devil it is!" gasped Spink. "But what's the difference! " he
+exclaimed. " They've got to buy it anyway. They'd buy it if it was
+a cook-book. And, I say," he cried delightedly, "that's great press
+work you're doing for the book at the races! The papers are full of
+you this morning, and every man who reads about your luck at the
+track will see your name as the author of 'The Dead Heat,' and will
+rush to buy the book. He'll think 'The Dead Heat' is a guide to the
+turf!"
+
+When Carter reached the track he found his notoriety had preceded
+him. Ambitious did no run until the fourth race, and until then, as
+he sat in his box, an eager crowd surged below. He had never known
+such popularity. The crowd had read the newspapers, and such
+head-lines as "He Cannot Lose!" "Young Carter Wins $70,000!" "Boy
+Plunger Wins Again!" "Carter Makes Big Killing!" "The Ring Hit
+Hard!" "The Man Who Cannot Lose!" "Carter Beats Book-makers!" had
+whetted their curiosity and filled many with absolute faith in his
+luck. Men he had not seen in years grasped him by the hand and
+carelessly asked if he could tell of something good. Friends old
+and new begged him to dine with them, to immediately have a drink
+With them, at least to "try" a cigar. Men who protested they had
+lost their all begged for just a hint which would help them to come
+out even, and every one, without exception, assured him he was
+going to buy his latest book.
+
+"I tried to get it last night at a dozen news-stands," many of them
+said, "but they told me the entire edition was exhausted."
+
+The crowd of hungry-eyed race-goers waiting below the box, and
+watching Carter's every movement, distressed Dolly.
+
+"I hate it!" she cried. "They look at you like a lot of starved
+dogs begging for a bone. Let's go home; we don't want to make any
+more money, and we may lose what we have. And I want it all to
+advertise the book."
+
+"If you're not careful," said Carter, "some one will buy that book
+and read it, and then you and Spink will have to take shelter in a
+cyclone cellar."
+
+When he arose to make his bet on Ambitious, his friends from the
+club stand and a half-dozen of Pinkerton's men closed in around him
+and in a flying wedge pushed into the ring. The news-papers had
+done their work, and he was instantly surrounded by a hungry,
+howling mob. In comparison with the one of the previous day, it was
+as a foot-ball scrimmage to a run on a bank. When he made his first
+wager and the crowd learned the name of the horse, it broke with a.
+yell into hundreds of flying missiles which hurled themselves at
+the book-makers. Under their attack, as on the day before,
+Ambitious receded to even money. There was hardly a person at the
+track who did not back the luck of the man who "could not lose."
+And when Ambitious won easily, it was not the horse or the jockey
+that was cheered, but the young man in the box.
+
+In New York the extras had already announced that he was again
+lucky, and when Dolly and Carter reached the bank they found the
+entire staff on hand to receive him and his winnings. They amounted
+to a sum so magnificent that Carter found for the rest of their
+lives the interest would furnish Dolly and himself an income upon
+which they could live modestly and well.
+
+A distinguished-looking, white-haired official of the bank
+congratulated Carter warmly. "Should you wish to invest some of
+this," he said, " I should be glad to advise you. My knowledge in
+that direction may be wider than your own."
+
+Carter murmured his thanks. The white-haired gentleman lowered his
+voice. "On certain other subjects," he continued, "you know many
+things of which I am totally ignorant. Could you tell me," he asked
+carelessly, "who will win the Suburban to-morrow? "
+
+Carter frowned mysteriously. "I can tell you better in the
+morning," he said. "It looks like Beldame, with Proper and First
+Mason within call."
+
+The white-haired man showed his surprise and also that his
+ignorance was not as profound as he suggested.
+
+"I thought the Keene entry----" he ventured.
+
+"I know," said Carter doubtfully. "If it were for a mile, I would
+say Delhi, but I don't think he can last the distance. In the
+morning I'll wire you."
+
+As they settled back in their car, Carter took both of Dolly's
+hands in his. "So far as money goes," he said, "we are independent
+of your mother--independent of my books; and I want to make you a
+promise. I want to promise you that, no matter what I dream in the
+future, I'll never back another horse." Dolly gave a gasp of
+satisfaction.
+
+"And what's more," added Carter hastily, "not another dollar can
+you risk in backing my books. After this, they've got to stand or
+fall on their legs!"
+
+"Agreed!" cried Dolly. "Our plunging days are over."
+
+When they reached the flat they found waiting for Carter the junior
+partner of a real publishing house. He had a blank contract, and he
+wanted to secure the right to publish Carter's next book.
+
+"I have a few short stories----" suggested Carter.
+
+Collections of short stories, protested the visitor truthfully, "do
+not sell. We would prefer another novel on the same lines as 'The
+Dead Heat.'"
+
+"Have you read 'The Dead Heat'?" asked Carter.
+
+"I have not," admitted the publisher, but the next book by the same
+author is sure to----. We will pay in advance of royalties fifteen
+thousand dollars."
+
+"Could you put that in writing?" asked Carter. When the publisher
+was leaving he said:
+
+"I see your success in literature is equaled by your success at the
+races. Could you tell me what will win the Suburban?"
+
+"I will send you a wire in the MORNING," said Carter.
+
+They had arranged to dine with some friends and later to visit a
+musical comedy. Carter had changed his clothes, and, while he was
+waiting for Dolly to dress, was reclining in a huge arm-chair. The
+heat of the day, the excitement, and the wear on his nerves caused
+his head to sink back, his eyes to close, and his limbs to relax.
+
+When, by her entrance, Dolly woke him, he jumped up in some
+confusion.
+
+"You've been asleep," she mocked.
+
+"Worse!" said Carter. "I've been dreaming! Shall I tell you who is
+going to win the Suburban?"
+
+"Champneys!" cried Dolly in alarm.
+
+"My dear Dolly," protested her husband, "I promised to stop
+betting. I did not promise to stop sleeping."
+
+"Well," sighed Dolly, with relief, "as long as it stops at that.
+Delhi will win," she added. "Delhi will not," said Carter. "This is
+how they will finish----"He scribbled three names on a piece of
+paper which Dolly read.
+
+"But that," she said, "is what you told the gentleman at the bank."
+
+Carter stared at her blankly and in some embarrassment.
+
+"You see!" cried Dolly, "what you think when you're awake, you
+dream when you're asleep. And you had a run of luck that never
+happened before and could never happen again."
+
+Carter received her explanation with reluctance. "I wonder," he
+said.
+
+On arriving at the theatre they found their host had reserved a
+stage-box, and as there were but four in their party, and as, when
+they entered, the house lights were up, their arrival drew upon
+them the attention both of those in the audience and of those on
+the stage. The theatre was crowded to its capacity, and in every
+part were people who were habitual race-goers, as well as many
+racing men who had come to town for the Suburban. By these, as well
+as by many others who for three days had seen innumerable pictures
+of him, Carter was instantly recognized. To the audience and to the
+performers the man who always won was of far greater interest than
+what for the three-hundredth night was going forward on the stage.
+And when the leading woman, Blanche Winter, asked the comedian
+which he would rather be, "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte
+Carlo or the Man Who Can Not Lose?" she gained from the audience an
+easy laugh and from the chorus an excited giggle.
+
+When, at the end of the act, Carter went into the lobby to smoke,
+he was so quickly surrounded that he sought refuge on Broadway.
+From there, the crowd still following him, he was driven back into
+his box. Meanwhile, the interest shown in him had not been lost
+upon the press agent of the theatre, and he at once telephoned to
+the newspaper offices that Plunger Carter, the book-maker breaker,
+was at that theatre, and if that the newspapers wanted a chance to
+interview him on the probable out-come of the classic handicap to
+be run on the morrow, he, the press agent, would unselfishly assist
+them. In answer to these hurry calls, reporters of the Ten o'Clock
+Club assembled in the foyer. How far what later followed was due to
+their presence and to the efforts of the press agent only that
+gentleman can tell. It was in the second act that Miss Blanche
+Winter sang her topical song. In it she advised the audience when
+anxious to settle any question of personal or national interest to
+"Put it up to the Man in the Moon.'" This night she introduced a
+verse in which she told of her desire to know which horse on the
+morrow would win the Suburban, and, in the chorus, expressed her
+determination to "Put it up to the Man in the Moon."
+
+Instantly from the back of the house a voice called: "Why don't you
+put it up to the Man in the Box?" Miss Winter laughed-the audience
+laughed; all eyes were turned toward Carter. As though the idea
+pleased them, from different parts of the house people applauded
+heartily. In embarrassment, Carter shoved back his chair and pulled
+the curtain of the box between him and the audience. But he was not
+so easily to escape. Leaving the orchestra to continue unheeded
+with the prelude to the next verse, Miss Winter walked slowly and
+deliberately toward him, smiling mischievously. In burlesque
+entreaty, she held out her arms. She made a most appealing and
+charming picture, and of that fact she was well aware. In a voice
+loud enough to reach every part of the house, she addressed herself
+to Carter:
+
+"Won't you tell ME?" she begged.
+
+Carter, blushing unhappily, shrugged his shoulders in apology.
+
+With a wave of her hand Miss Winter designated the audience.
+"Then," she coaxed, reproachfully, "won't you tell THEM?"
+
+Again, instantly, with a promptness and unanimity that sounded
+suspiciously as though it came from ushers well rehearsed, several
+voice echoed her petition: "Give us all a chance!'' shouted one.
+"Don't keep the good things to yourself! " reproached another. " I
+want to get rich, TOO!" wailed a third. In his heart, Carter prayed
+they would choke. But the audience, so far from resenting the
+interruptions, encouraged them, and Carter's obvious discomfort
+added to its amusement. It proceeded to assail him with applause,
+with appeals, with commands to "speak up."
+
+The hand-clapping became general-insistent. The audience would not
+be denied. Carter turned to Dolly. In the recesses of the box she
+was enjoying his predicament. His friends also were laughing at
+him. Indignant at their desertion, Carter grinned vindictively.
+"All right," he muttered over his shoulder. "Since you think it's
+funny, I'll show you !" He pulled his pencil from his watch-chain
+and, spreading his programme on the ledge of the box, began to
+write.
+
+From the audience there rose a murmur of incredulity, of surprise,
+of excited interest. In the rear of the house the press agent,
+after one startled look, doubled up in an ecstasy of joy. "We've
+landed him !" he gasped. "We've landed him He's going to fall for
+it!"
+
+Dolly frantically clasped her husband by the coat-tail.
+
+"Champ!" she implored, "what are you doing?"
+
+Quite calmly , quite confidently, Carter rose. Leaning forward with
+a nod and a smile, he presented the programme to the beautiful Miss
+Winter. That lady all but snatched at it. The spot-light was full
+in her eyes. Turning her back that she might the more easily read,
+she stood for a moment, her pretty figure trembling with eagerness,
+her pretty eyes bent upon the programme. The house had grown
+suddenly still, and with an excited gesture, the leader of the
+orchestra commanded the music to silence A man, bursting with
+impatience, broke the tense quiet. "Read it!" he shouted.
+
+In a frightened voice that in the sudden hush held none of its
+usual confidence, Miss Winter read slowly: " The favorite cannot
+last the distance. Will lead for the mile and give way to Beldame.
+Proper takes the place. First Mason will show. Beldame will win by
+a length."
+
+Before she had ceased reading, a dozen men had struggled to their
+feet and a hundred voice were roaring at her. "Read that again !"
+the chorused. Once more Miss Winter read the message, but before
+she had finished half of those in the front rows were scrambling
+from their seats and racing up the aisles. Already the reporters
+were ahead of them, and in the neighborhood not one telephone booth
+was empty. Within five minutes, in those hotels along the White Way
+where sporting men are wont to meet, betting commissioners and
+hand-book men were suddenly assaulted by breathless gentlemen, some
+in evening dress, some without collars, and some without hats, but
+all with money to bet against the favorite. And, an hour later,
+men, bent under stacks of newspaper "extras," were vomited from the
+subway stations into the heart of Broadway, and in raucous tones
+were shrieking, "Winner of the Suburban," sixteen hours before that
+race was run. That night to every big newspaper office from Maine
+to California, was flashed the news that Plunger Carter, in a
+Broadway theatre, had announced that the favorite for the Suburban
+would be beaten, and, in order, had named the three horses that
+would first finish.
+
+Up and down Broadway, from rathskellers to roof-gardens, in cafes
+and lobster palaces, on the corners of the cross-roads, in clubs
+and all-night restaurants, Carter's tip was as a red rag to a bull.
+
+Was the boy drunk, they demanded, or had his miraculous luck turned
+his head? Otherwise, why would he so publicly utter a prophecy that
+on the morrow must certainly smother him with ridicule. The
+explanations were varied. The men in the clubs held he was driven
+by a desire for notoriety, the men in the street that he was more
+clever than they guessed, and had made the move to suit his own
+book, to alter the odds to his own advantage. Others frowned
+mysteriously. With superstitious faith in his luck, they pointed to
+his record. "Has he ever lost a bet? How do WE know what HE knows?"
+they demanded. "Perhaps it's fixed and he knows it!"
+
+The "wise" ones howled in derision. "A Suburban FIXED!" they
+retorted. "You can fix ONE jockey, you can fix TWO; but you can't
+fix sixteen jockeys! You can't fix Belmont, you can't fix Keene.
+There's nothing in his picking Beldame, but only a crazy man would
+pick the horse for the place and to show, and shut out the
+favorite! The boy ought to be in Matteawan.
+
+Still undisturbed, still confident to those to whom he had promised
+them, Carter sent a wire. Nor did he forget his old enemy, "Sol"
+Burbank. " If you want to get some of the money I took," he
+telegraphed, "wipe out the Belmont entry and take all they offer on
+Delhi. He cannot win."
+
+And that night, when each newspaper called him up at his flat, he
+made the same answer. "The three horses Will finish as I said. You
+can state that I gave the information as I did as a sort of present
+to the people of New York City."
+
+In the papers the next morning "Carter's Tip" was the front- page
+feature. Even those who never in the racing of horses felt any
+concern could not help but take in the outcome of this one a
+curious interest. The audacity of the prophecy, the very absurdity
+of it, presupposing, as it did, occult power, was in itself
+amusing. And when the curtain rose on the Suburban it was evident
+that to thousands what the Man Who Could Not Lose had foretold was
+a serious and inspired utterance.
+
+This time his friends gathered around him, not to benefit by his
+advice, but to protect him. "They'll mob you!" they warned.
+"They'll tear the clothes off your back. Better make your getaway
+now."
+
+Dolly, with tears in her eyes, sat beside him. Every now and again
+she touched his hand. Below his box, as around a newspaper office
+on the night when a president is elected, the people crushed in a
+turbulent mob. Some mocked and jeered, some who on his tip had
+risked their every dollar, hailed him hopefully. On every side
+policemen, fearful of coming trouble, hemmed him in. Carter was
+bored extremely, heartily sorry he had on the night before given
+way to what he now saw as a perverse impulse. But he still was
+confident, still undismayed.
+
+To all eyes, except those of Dolly, he was of all those at the
+track the least concerned. To her he turned and, in a low tone,
+spoke swiftly. "I am so sorry," he begged. "But, indeed, indeed, I
+can't lose. You must have faith in me."
+
+"In you, yes," returned Dolly in a whisper, "but in your dreams,
+no!"
+
+The horses were passing on their way to the post. Carter brought
+his face close to hers.
+
+"I'm going to break my promise," he said, "and make one more bet,
+this one with you. I bet you a kiss that I'm right."
+
+Dolly, holding back her tears, smiled mournfully. "Make it a
+hundred," she said.
+
+Half of the forty thousand at the track had backed Delhi, the other
+half, following Carter's luck and his confidence in proclaiming his
+convictions, had backed Beldame. Many hundred had gone so far as to
+bet that the three horses he had named would finish as he had
+foretold. But, in spite of Carter's tip, Delhi still was the
+favorite, and when the thousands saw the Keene polka-dots leap to
+the front, and by two lengths stay there, for the quarter, the
+half, and for the three- quarters, the air was shattered with
+jubilant, triumphant yells. And then suddenly, with the swiftness
+of a moving picture, in the very moment of his victory, Beldame
+crept up on the favorite, drew alongside, drew ahead passed him,
+and left him beaten. It was at the mile.
+
+The night before a man had risen in a theatre and said to two
+thousand people: "The favorite will lead for the mile, and give way
+to Beldame." Could they have believed him, the men who now cursed
+themselves might for the rest of their lives have lived upon their
+winnings. Those who had followed his prophecy faithfully,
+superstitiously, now shrieked in happy, riotous
+self-congratulation. "At the MILE!" they yelled. "He TOLD you, at
+the MILE!" They turned toward Carter and shook Panama hats at him.
+"Oh, you Carter!" they shrieked lovingly.
+
+It was more than a race the crowd was watching now, it was the
+working out of a promise. And when Beldame stood off Proper's rush,
+and Proper fell to second, and First Mason followed three lengths
+in the rear, and in that order they flashed under the wire, the
+yells were not that a race had been won, but that a prophecy had
+been fulfilled.
+
+Of the thousands that cheered Carter and fell upon him and indeed
+did tear his clothes off his back, one of his friends alone was
+sufficiently unselfish to think of what it might, mean to Carter.
+
+"Champ!" roared his friend, pounding him on both shoulders. "You
+old wizard! I win ten thousand! How much do you win?"
+
+Carter cast a swift glance at Dolly. he said, "I win much more than
+that."
+
+And Dolly, raising her eyes to his, nodded and smiled contentedly.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg Etext of The Man Who Could Not Lose, by Davis
+
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