That queer, numb feeling in his head and the sharp line of pain
between his eyebrows which had been growing worse for the last three
weeks, was troubling him more terribly than ever before, and his
nerves had thrown off all control and rioted at the base of his head
and at his wrists, and jerked and twitched as though, so it seemed to
him, they were striving to pull the tired body into pieces and to set
themselves free. He was wondering whether if he should take his hand
from his pocket and touch his head he would find that it had grown
longer, and had turned into a soft, spongy mass which would give
beneath his fingers. He considered this for some time, and even went
so far as to half withdraw one hand, but thought better of it and
shoved it back again as he considered how much less terrible it was to
remain in doubt than to find that this phenomenon had actually taken
place.
The pity of the whole situation was, that the boy was only a boy with
all his man's miserable knowledge of the world, and the reason of it
all was, that he had entirely too much heart and not enough money to
make an unsuccessful gambler. If he had only been able to lose his
conscience instead of his money, or even if he had kept his conscience
and won, it is not likely that he would have been waiting for the
lights to go out at Monte Carlo.
Pages:
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137