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Dutch, and Spanish chargé d'affaires, and so on; but since he ran through the property he had left him while at Oxford, he has been what you see him now, a bonnet."

"A bonnet !" said Stanley. "What is that?"

"A picker up-a jackall-a fellow whose occupation is to seduce young men into houses of play to be plundered. He picked you upI knew it the very moment you entered."

"But surely this is not a common gambling house?" said Stanley. "Why, what else do you conceive it to be !"

"I understood that it was a club."

"Oh, a club! So it is-yes, they call it a club-the Imperial Club. I have not the pleasure of knowing you, nor do you know me ; but as I perceive that you have had but little experience in these matters, let me tell you that it is what you imagined it was not."

"Well, I thought that it was strange that a club, according to my acceptation of the term, should be kept by so vulgar a man.'

Oh, they are all low-bred scamps, from the richest to the poorest. The majority are of the vilest and most degraded caste; and they engage as bonnets such men as our mutual friend the colonel, who are accomplished, prepossessing, and in many instances highly connected. I presume you know little of the game. I saw Sharp teaching you as much as he wished you to know; but allow me to give you a few private lessons."

"You are very polite," said Stanley. "I shall be happy to receive them."

"Well, then, in the first place, never play at all. Shun gaming as you would a pestilence; for although a tyro almost invariably wins at first, it is sure to involve him eventually in ruin."

"A tyro, I suppose, is permitted to win, for the purpose of urging him on ?"

"Where they happen to be sure of him again. But it is an extraordinary fact that, in the absence of all trickery, men almost always win at first,-{ -as if some evil spirit presided over the game, with the view of communicating the disease; for a disease it is, and one which absolute ruin cannot cure. I therefore advise you strongly not to play, if you wish to preserve any feeling of honour; for be assured that, whatever he may profess, or however anxious he may be to disguise it from himself, no habitual gambler can be a really honourable man. His sole object is to win. If he can do so fairly, it is well; but if not, he very soon becomes unscrupulous as to the means by which that object is attained. Should you ever find the temptation to play irresistible, bear in mind the few points with which I am anxious to make you acquainted; for without any desire to induce you to entertain a high opinion of me, I may state, that I am so far from being displeased with your appearance, that I would not have allowed you to be plundered if you had played."

"Now," thought Stanley, "let me narrowly watch this man. He may be quite as designing a knave as the colonel."

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"In the first place," continued the stranger, you cannot tell whether the dice they give you to throw are fair or false-there is scarcely one man in a thousand that can. They may be loaded, or incorrectly marked: you take them up as a matter of course, play with them, and lose, when you attribute the fact solely to ill luck;

and hence arises in a great degree that species of superstition, which forms one of the most prominent characteristics of a gamester. Now let me explain to you how you will be able to ascertain whether dice are fair or false in a moment. Put the six and the ace together thus then turn them until you also get the seven at the side either by the quatre trois, or the cinque deux-let us say the quatre trois. Very well; if the dice be fair, you will find the six sevens without shifting those dice; that is to say, you will find the six ace top and bottom, the quatre trois on either side, the cinq deux at the ends, and the same when you divide them; whereas if they be false, you will find, having placed the six ace at the top, trois deux at the sides, quatre and cinq at the ends,-in short, anything but the right number." "Then there are always six sevens on a pair of fair dice ?"

"There are six real sevens; but as eleven is what is professionally yclept the 'nick' for the main of seven, there are in reality eight nicks to that main. But remember that, unless you find the numbers precisely as I have explained to you, the dice are falsely marked. They may, however, be marked correctly, and yet be false; they may be loaded, and the only way in which the fact can be ascertained without cutting them up, is by trying to spin them. This requires some practice; but if a die will spin, it cannot be loaded; for if it be loaded, it never will spin. Spin them, therefore, and make the six sevens, and then you may be sure that the dice are fair."

"I understand," said Stanley. "As far as the marking is concerned, the thing appears to be exceedingly simple."

"It is most simple when explained; but there is not one in a hundred at the present time who knows how to do it, although thousands of pounds would be saved every night by that little knowledge alone." "But what was that trick of the colonel's which you exposed?" "It is called securing,'-a species of legerdemain which some playmen accomplish with surprising dexterity. The trick is done thus I am the caster, and have taken the odds. I wish to throw a certain number: very well. In taking up the dice, I secure one either between the fourth and fifth finger, or between the fifth finger and the palm, and put the other into the box. I then throw, of course bringing them as near as possible to each other upon the table; and as I have taken care to have the deux, trois, or quatre of the one which I thus secured uppermost, the chances are turned in favour of my throwing the very number I happen to want."

"But can you not tell by the rattle that there is but one die in the box ?"

"It can be told by an experienced ear; but such an ear only can detect it. I can tell in an instant; and whenever I discover a man resorting to the practice, I invariably expose him as I did your friend. By the way, where did you meet with that ingenious scoundrel ?"

"At the theatre," replied Stanley.

"And he brought you out thus early?"

"Oh, this was last evening."

"And what place did he take you to then? Of course you didn't leave him without being seduced somewhere ?"

"No; we went to an hotel and had supper, and thence to one of those saloons in the vicinity of Covent Garden."

"And did he not in any way swindle you ?"

"No. In fact, he insisted upon paying for the pagne."

supper and cham

"Of course he'd do that. Then you managed to reach home without sustaining any loss?"

"No, indeed I did not. On the contrary, I lost my watch, and every pound I had in my pocket."

"Exactly. I thought that he would never suffer you to escape." "But this was after we had separated."

"Doubtless! Will you explain the particulars ?"

Stanley did so, and was astonished to see the stranger occasionally smile and toss his head, as if he could not have understood the thing much better had he actually been there.

"Will you be guided by me in this matter? Will you take my advice?" said he, when Stanley had concluded. "I can see through it all: you were hocussed!-that negus was drugged; and however circumstantial his description of the scene at the bar of the markethouse may have been, depend upon it you never were there. The very moment you became insensible, he and the woman led you out, and having plundered you themselves, left you where you were found by the police. Now, as the only thing you care much about is your watch, and as, of course, you have no wish to make the circumstances public, take my advice: accuse this fellow at once of having robbed you; threaten loudly to call in a policeman to take him to the station-house, and then to search his lodgings; and the chances are in favour of your watch being restored."

"Good Heaven! is it possible!" cried Stanley. "But where is he?" "I saw him leave the room about five minutes since; he is still in the house, I have no doubt. Come with me; we shall find him."

They at once left the room; and having learned from the porter below that the colonel was in the kitchen, they proceeded there sans ceremonie, and discovered that gentleman in company with others connected with the establishment, before a dish of boiled tripe, tastefully fringed with immense onions.

"Colonel Palmer," said Stanley, "I wish to speak with you in private."

The colonel blushed deeply as he rose from his tripe, and became somewhat nervous; but he followed them, nevertheless, into one of the unoccupied rooms on the ground floor.

"I have reason to believe," said Stanley, on reaching this room, "that I have discovered the scoundrel who robbed me last night." "Indeed!" cried the colonel, turning at the moment very pale. "I am very glad of it," he added, although anything indicative of gladness in his countenance no soul could have perceived,—“ very, very glad, indeed."

"So am I," cried Stanley; "and I therefore now call upon you to return my watch, if you value your liberty."

In an instant the colonel assumed a look of indignation; his blood became hot, and his eyes flashed fire. "Sir!" said he fiercely, as his bosom swelled with wrath, "do you mean to insinuate-"

"Nothing!" cried Stanley, with corresponding fierceness. "I mean to insinuate nothing. I mean to charge you distinctly with having robbed me ; and unless you restore that watch, I will instantly send for the police."

"Upon my honour I know nothing of it."

"Liar!" cried Stanley, "that base look betrays you. Have you got it about you? Is it here?"

"I will not be thus treated!” cried the colonel; but scarcely had he uttered the words when Stanley threw him upon his back, and drew a watch from his pocket. It was not the watch in question, nor had he any other; and as Stanley began to feel that he might have gone a little too far, he relinquished his hold.

"Vy, vort's o'clock now?" cried the stumpy proprietor, who entered the room at this moment. "Vort in the name o' God and Mighty his it?"

"Will you send for a policeman? Last night this scoundrel robbed me of my watch, and I'm now resolved to make him give it up." "Give it hup!-has a matter off course. Kam, none o' yer warment manœuvres-shell out!"

"Upon my word I have not got it. I have not, indeed." "No, I dares to say not; ner yer don know vere it his ?" "For your own reputation, Sharp, make him restore it at once," said Stanley's friend. "He is a servant of yours, and you are therefore to some extent involved."

"Do me the favour to go for a policeman," said Stanley to his friend, "or watch the villain narrowly while I run myself."

"Don't, for God and Mighty's sake, bring the polis hin 'ear! They cusses the 'spectability of hevery 'stablishment they henters. I'll bundle 'im hout neck and crop, and then yea cun give 'im hin charge. But hare yer a-goin' for to give the ticker hup?—Kam, that's hall about it."

"I tell you again that I have not got the watch," replied the colonel; and he winked at the proprietor, conceiving that that might have a favourable effect. But in this he was mistaken; for although Sharp was quite as great a villain as himself, the subject of his own reputation had been touched, and that induced him to be for once in his life honest. "Oh ho! I twig!" said he, the moment the wink had been given. "But no, it von't fit ; no, nothink off the sort; I von't 'ave it."

This the colonel conceived to be extremely irregular, "honour among thieves" having been for years the recognised motto of both. He, notwithstanding, drew him aside, and said something in a whisper, as he pulled from his pocket a dirty piece of card about an inch and a half square.

"Now, serpose," said Sharp, as he returned with this card in his hand, "serpose thish 'ear votch is guv hup, vill yer pledge yer verd yer'll perceed no furder?"

"I will," replied Stanley.

"Vell, then, s'pose ag'in that it's pawned for ten pounds, vood yer hin sich a case, yer know, be satisfied vith the dubblikit?" Stanley would have been, but his friend interposed.

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," said he, "if that wretch has ten pounds in his pocket.' "Ave yer got ten pound ?" inquired Sharp.

"I have not," replied the colonel.

"He had more than twenty pounds' worth of counters."

"That's hall werry possible; but for them, yer know, he guv' in a cheque."

"Well, give me the duplicate," said Stanley. "This is correct, of course?"

"Oh, that's all reg'lar," replied Sharp. "You 'ave nothink to do but to show it."

"Now," said Stanley, addressing the colonel, "in future keep out of my path. You will never again let me catch you within the reach of my foot if you are wise."

"An' 'e may think hisself lucky," said the virtuous proprietor, as Stanley's friend left the room; "there ain't many as vood 'ave let 'im off so heasy. At hall ewents, he don't darken my doors ag'in. I 'ope as this 'ear von't perwent yer from honourin' me vith another hurly wisit? Good night to yer, gen'elmen-I vish yer good night."

They now left the house, and Stanley was about to express his thanks warmly; but his friend, whom he subsequently found to be a member of the House of Commons, would not hear a word. You will find me in the Albany," said he, "I shall be happy to see you. You must promise to call."

The promise was given, and they parted. It was then two o'clock. Stanley therefore at once proceeded home, where Amelia was happy in the conviction that he had been dining at Richmond, and had thereby effected a reconciliation.

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