It happened in a flash that Joseph "Mighty Joe" Goddard could barely see anything until the young man who shouted at him suddenly crumpled in a heap at his feet, and the other man reeled back with a surprised look. The next second, Goddard caught the sight of a blood-coated knife in his hand.Then a shocking realization struck him. The blood dripping from the knife would have been his had the young man not thrown himself in front of him. Leaping down, Goddard swiftly flipped the young man to see the severity of his injury, and found that red stain had been expanding rapidly over his shirtfront.Goddard cursed himself for not being aware of the oncoming danger. He'd dismissed a threat he'd received not so long ago as a mere bluff. He'd never feared for anything under the sun in his fifty eight years and he'd always refused to be defeated by age despite the fact that he was nudging sixty. However, it appeared that he began to lose his customary alertness."Fucking bastard!" He sprang

"I... I'll fetch you a blanket and something to wear."She stammered and hurried out of the room. Turning his head on the pillows, Matthew scanned his surroundings to find his clothes, but they were nowhere in sight. He cringed at the sight of the lacy handkerchief over his crotch and, couldn't bear the embarrassment for another minute, he searched for another possible covering within his reach. He almost reached for the pillows under his head when the girl returned with a pile of folded sheets and robe.Fixing his gaze on the ceiling, Matthew suppressed his mortification as the girl spread the blanket over his legs and pulled the sheets above his waist. She seemed to understand his predicament, careful to keep her gaze fixed anywhere else but on him. After she'd done arranging the blanket, she reached for the folded robe."I brought you my father's dressing gown. I know this is too big for you but I suppose it will have to make do for tonight. I'll try to get a pair of trousers and a

"I hope I'm doing this right. I'm not sure I recalled Mama's recipe correctly."Marguerite muttered as she put a baking tray filled with cookie dough into the oven. Turning back to the kitchen table, she took off the dish towel wrapped around her right hand and draped it over the chair before taking a seat.Standing on the other side of the table, the Cook, a nice, hearty woman in her late forties stopped chopping onions and glanced at her with a fond smile, "I'm glad to have you around again, Maggie. I never thought I'd see the day you'd be back here baking cookies."A wistful smile curled up on her lips as memories of the good old days wiggled their way out of the far recesses of her mind. She and her mother used to spend time together in the kitchen baking a lot of cookies and gingerbread, only to share them with the servants and casino staff. Back in the day, the heavenly smell of freshly baked cookies along with laughter of the happy servants always wafted on the air here.She'

Marguerite had been standing in front of the ornate wooden door of Goddard's office for ten long minutes before she managed to muster enough courage to knock. She had strengthened her resolve and braced herself, knowing that it wouldn't be easy, still she flinched when she heard Goddard's voice from within the room. Taking in a steadying breath, she turned the latch and pushed the door.On the other end of the room, Goddard was sitting on a high chair behind a huge mahogany desk. Clearly not expecting to see Marguerite, he seemed a bit surprised. He put down his quill pen and beckoned her to come in.As her gaze swept briefly over the scattered papers on the huge mahogany desk, Marguerite immediately spotted an untouched platter of food on the far corner. It was almost nine o'clock, the food must have been sent to his office a couple of hours ago. She hated to see such a sumptuous meal go to waste, worse yet, to see Goddard ignore his own well being."What do you want to talk about?"

It all seemed, at first, like a dream, Matthew couldn't believe his luck. Sometimes he had to pinch himself, in case he was dreaming about it all. He got trained right away, by Goddard himself and some of his dealers. He'd got quick hands, so it was no wonder that he mastered how to shuffle the cards in no time. But he surprised them all, as much as himself, with how quickly he grasped the concept of probability. For the first time in his life, he found fascination in what he learned, and in a very short time, he'd learned several gambling techniques. At first Matthew thought it was sheer luck when he beat one of Goddard's men in cribbage, but after he managed to win easy victories over some other dealers shortly afterwards, he started to realize that he had one extraordinary talent for numbers and rapid calculation of odds. However, it took a while before Goddard allowed him to plunge into the field.Matthew experienced the same odd stirring the minute he set foot on the floor of the