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Ellery H. Clark. Loaded Dice
Loaded Dice
Table of Contents
PART I. THE FOOTHOLD
LOADED DICE
CHAPTER I
A GAME OF BRIDGE AT THE FEDERAL
CHAPTER II
A LITTLE DINNER AT THE ALBEMARLE
CHAPTER III
THE FLATFOOT
CHAPTER IV
THE ESSEX HANDICAP
CHAPTER V
THE TRAP IS BAITED
CHAPTER VI
COUNTRY COUSINS
CHAPTER VII
THE TRAP IS SPRUNG
CHAPTER VIII
GORDON PREVENTS A SCANDAL
CHAPTER IX
PALMER HAS A VISITOR
CHAPTER X
THE CRISIS
CHAPTER XI
IN THE FIRELIGHT
CHAPTER XII
THE FINAL OBSTACLE
PART II. THE GAME
CHAPTER I
AN AMBITION IS ATTAINED
CHAPTER II
THE ETHEL CLAIM
CHAPTER III
THE RETURN OF MR. FROST
CHAPTER IV
GORDON PLAYS TO THE GALLERY
CHAPTER V
A QUESTION OF FINANCE
CHAPTER VI
THE SPINNING OF THE WEB
CHAPTER VII
A DOUBLE BLOW
CHAPTER VIII
THE CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION
CHAPTER IX
THE PUBLIC EYE
CHAPTER X
ETHEL MASON DECIDES
CHAPTER XI
THE LAUNCHING OF THE KONAHASSETT
CHAPTER XII
GORDON LISTENS TO GOOD ADVICE
CHAPTER XIII
IN THE TRACK OF THE STORM
CHAPTER XIV
GORDON ENGAGES A POLITICAL LIEUTENANT
CHAPTER XV
THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
PART III. THE RECKONING
CHAPTER I
THE HAZARD OF THE DIE
CHAPTER II
THE HAND OF MAN
CHAPTER III
THE HAND OF GOD
THE END
Отрывок из книги
Ellery H. Clark
Published by Good Press, 2021
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He stopped abruptly amid an attentive silence. Then, as no comment seemed to be forthcoming, he continued even more slowly. "To me, I confess the man's way of putting the thing was undeniably interesting. What I didn't grasp at first was how far the proposition carried you logically. You fellows who profess not to believe in anything don't really act out your disbelief, because somehow in the very bottom of your hearts you feel that there may be a hereafter, and you don't want to take any chances. That is, not to put it too disagreeably, this fellow would consider you, in the slang of the track, a lot of cheap pikers. But suppose you have the courage to follow out his ideas to the limit, and choose one way or the other. You can't kick. Your chance is even, and if you're willing to put up all you've got that there isn't a God, your life becomes nothing but pleasure. Just think of it. You're no longer bothered by any moral law; you're free to indulge your passions and your appetites as you please. You can get drunk every day, if that's your idea of enjoyment, or you can steal your friend's money, or his wife, or both, provided you don't get found out. What odds? In place of the groveling worm the preachers make you out to be, you're Kipling's 'gentleman unafraid,' taking a gentlemanly gamble with a mythical creator. It's a bold conception of life; there's no denying it. The man certainly interested me."
He broke off abruptly. Doctor Norton was the first to speak. "It is interesting!" he exclaimed. "I call it a first-class sporting proposition, and he's dead right on one point. We don't any of us, when you come right down to it, try to be good or to do good just for the love of it; it's really only selfish prudence, sort of a credit account against a rainy day. But on his main proposition I should say your friend must have something wrong with his upper story. A man's good from reasons of prudence, or he's bad because he's got what we call criminal instincts, but no man in his senses would sit down and reason the thing out as this fellow has."
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