“I’ve met him at the club.
I’m told he’s a remittance man.”
“Yes, I believe he is.
We have a good many here.”
“He plays bridge well.”
“They generally do.
There was a fellow here last year, oddly enough a namesake of mine, who was the best bridge player I ever met.
I suppose you never came across him in London.
Lenny Burton he called himself.
I believe he’d belonged to some very good clubs.”
“No, I don’t believe I remember the name.”
“He was quite a remarkable player.
He seemed to have an instinct about the cards.
It was uncanny.
I used to play with him a lot.
He was in Kobe for some time.”
Burton sipped his gin fizz.
“It’s rather a funny story,” he said.
“He wasn’t a bad chap.
I liked him.
He was always well-dressed and smart-looking.
He was handsome in a way with curly hair and pink-and-white cheeks.
Women thought a lot of him.
There was no harm in him, you know, he was only wild.
Of course he drank too much.
Those sort of fellows always do.
A bit of money used to come in for him once a quarter and he made a bit more by card-playing.
He won a good deal of mine, I know that.”
Burton gave a kindly chuckle.
I knew from my own experience that he could lose money at bridge with a good grace.
He stroked his shaven chin with his thin hand; the veins stood out on it and it was almost transparent.
“I suppose that is why he came to me when he went broke, that and the fact that he was a namesake of mine.
He came to see me in my office one day and asked me for a job.
I was rather surprised.
He told me that there was no more money coming from home and he wanted to work.
I asked him how old he was.
“‘Thirty-five,’ he said.
“‘And what have you been doing hitherto?’ I asked him.
“‘Well, nothing very much,’ he said.
“I couldn’t help laughing.
“‘I’m afraid I can’t do anything for you just yet,’ I said.
‘Come back and see me in another thirty-five years, and I’ll see what I can do.’
“He didn’t move.
He went rather pale.
He hesitated for a moment and then he told me that he had had bad luck at cards for some time.
He hadn’t been willing to stick to bridge, he’d been playing poker, and he’d got trimmed.
He hadn’t a penny.
He’d pawned everything he had.
He couldn’t pay his hotel bill and they wouldn’t give him any more credit.
He was down and out.