Explore "The Shadow of the Past" by Ethel Mills on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"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."