human
Don't you care, Ladue, he cried.
gpt
All is not lost. You needn't commit suicide yet. We'll stake you. Haven't you got a dollar left?
human
I've got, he answered, counting soberly,
gpt
he corrected himself,
human
I can't go, for I haven't got the price of a ticket. And I've given you fellows my IOU's, he went on, looking up with an attempt to face it out,--a pitiful attempt,--
gpt
Two hundred for mine, Ned replied, spreading Charlie's poor little notes on the table.
human
Anybody else got 'em? He looked around, but the others shook their heads.
gpt
It seems to be up to me to lend you, Ladue. Carelessly, he tossed a ten-dollar bill across the table.
human
Go home on that and see if you can't work the house for three hundred or so and take these up. Don't thank me. Charlie had taken the bill and begun to speak.
gpt
I'm doing it for cash, not sentiment. What do you suppose these IOU's are worth if you can't work somebody for the money?
human
I've a notion, Ned continued,
gpt
You know, don't you, Ned threw out as an inducement,
human
What's that story? Charlie asked.
gpt
I haven't heard it.
human
It's nothing much, he said carelessly,
gpt
Why, he began,
human
They have, he said.
gpt
Don't you run away with the idea that number seven hasn't made a profit out of Davis or Jones or whatever his name was. They advertise it all right. That story has brought them in a great deal more than three thousand a year. But this man had a system; a very simple one, and a very good one.
human
What was it? Charlie asked.
gpt
Can you tell me?
human
Certainly I can, Ned answered, smiling.
gpt
He had a cool head and he knew when to stop. And there isn't one in three thousand that knows when to stop, if they've got the bug.
human
I don't see, Charlie remarked loftily,
gpt
Well, they don't, kid,
human
Will--will you take me, Ned?
gpt
You don't want to go, Ladue, he said pityingly. At the bottom of his heart he did not wish to be responsible in the remotest degree for Charlie's career. It did not need a seer to guess at Charlie's weakness.
human
Number seven is no place for you and I'd advise you to keep out of it. It's a regular game, there; a man's game. They'd skin you alive without a quiver. They won't take any of your pieces of paper and they won't give you back any ten dollars, either. I wouldn't advise you to go there, kid.