The Mark of Cain

CHAPTER I.--A Tale of Two Clubs.

“Such arts the gods who dwell on high Have given to the Greek.”--_Lays of Ancient Rome._

In the Strangers’ Room of the Olympic Club the air was thick with tobacco-smoke, and, despite the bitter cold outside, the temperature was uncomfortably high. Dinner was over, and the guests, broken up into little groups, were chattering noisily. No one had...