Morris Best's new partner was a square gambler, so called. People there were who sneered¹ at this description and considered it a contradiction as absurd as a square circle or an elliptical cube. An elementary knowledge of the principles of geometry and of the retail² liquor business proved the non-existence of such a thing as a straight crook³, so they maintained. But be that as it may, Ben Miller⁴ certainly differed from the usual run of sporting-men, and he professed⁵ peculiar⁶ ideas regarding the conduct of his trade. Those ideas were almost puritanical⁷ in their nature. Proprietorship⁸ of recreation centers similar to the Rialto had bred in Mr. Miller a profound distrust of women as a sex and of his own ability successfully to deal with them; in consequence, he refused to tolerate their presence in his immediate¹⁰ vicinity. That they were valuable, nay¹¹, necessary, ingredients in the success of an enterprise such as the present one he well knew—Miller was, above all, a business man—but in making his deal with Best he had insisted positively¹² that none of the latter's song-birds were ever to enter the front saloon. That room, Miller maintained, was to be his own, and he proposed to exercise dominion¹³ over it. As for the gambling-hall, that of necessity was neutral territory and he reluctantly consented to permit the girls to patronize it so long as they behaved themselves. For his part, he yielded all responsibility over the theater, and what went on therein, to Best. He agreed to stay out of it.

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