all he asked as soon as I could convert some of my holdings. I hoped in the interim to get possession of the record and thus spike his guns. But in that I failed; and so, when he threatened to tell you everything, I agreed to bring the money to his home late last Saturday night. I kept the appointment, with the full intention of killing him. I was careful about entering, but he had helped me by explaining when and how I could get in without being seen. Once there, I wasted no time. The first moment he was off his guard I seized him—and gloried in the act. Then, locking the door and taking the key, I walked out of the house quite openly, and returned here to the club.—That's all, I think."
Vance was watching him musingly.
"So when you raised my bet last night," he said, "the amount represented a highly important item in your exchequer."
Spotswoode smiled faintly.
"It represented practically every cent I had in the world."
"Astonishin'! . . . And would you mind if I asked you why you selected the label of Beethoven's Andante for your record?"
"Another miscalculation," the man said wearily. "It occurred to me that if any one should, by any chance, open the phonograph before I could return and destroy the record, he wouldn't be as likely to want to hear the classics as he would a more popular selection."
"And one who detests popular music had to find it! I fear, Mr. Spotswoode, that an unkind fate sat in at your game."
