CHAPTER XVII

THE ESCAPE Good fortune, I have always contended, comes to those who make ready to receive it. I can well imagine the Foolish Virgins of the parable spending the rest of their lives lamenting their hard fate and attributing their wise sisters' preparedness not to prevision but to good luck. Throughout my life I have always tried to leave nothing to chance but the _dénouement_. It is in the _dénouement_ that Fate lies in ambush, waiting to slay or to spare.... I had done what I could, I reflected as I lay up in m…