Reading of the sudden death of a mere acquaintance, the narrator recalls James Pethel, whom he met at the baccarat tables of Dieppe. Pethel lives for risk, at cards and on the stock exchange, and the narrator comes to suspect that the man’s real gamble, at the wheel of his motor-car with his wife and daughter beside him, is with their lives.
A small masterpiece of wit and unease from Seven Men, by the incomparable Max. Download the free EPUB.