Read "The Shadow of the Past" by Ethel Mills online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
"And so you see," Holman said, and flung his coat upon the sands, and took a pack of cards from one of the pockets and shuffled them absently, "you don't stand to lose anyhow. If you win it's quits; if I win you get half your losses bade and simply render me a service which will trespass only on a few days -- a week or two at most -- of your time. It strikes me as a fairly generous offer."
"It's the undeniable generosity that gives it its Blackguard look," was the answer. "What's the nature of the service? . You say you want me to deliver a letter to a certain person of Dutch extraction and to bring you back his reply. That would sound all right if there were no postal facilities; but in view of the very excellent postal arrangements in this country the request wears a sinister aspect. I don't want to offend you, but -- it's shady, this business? Plainly I can't go into the thing with my eyes shut."