had determined to give the sum he had
offered before, and no more. Something
prompted me at that moment to try and
do something for my friend, and act a
little, though I doubt if it was strictly
conscientious. Still, making a bargain is
making a bargain, and I boldly said that
it was too little, out of the question, &c.
He was a Jew, and I think not disappointed
that there was to be some "haggling." On
that we set to work; my pet should have
seen the latent diplomatic powers I called
into play. Will you believe me—if I did not
triumph over the Jew in the end, and obtain
a hundred pounds more for my friend!
A memorandum was signed, and a day
named for me to go before the consul, and
finally conclude the matter. I am greatly
elated at this little victory. On coming
home, I found Grainger waiting at the
train. My first impulse was to tell him of
what I had done; but a wiser discretion
checked me. Here again is a little discipline:
and it seems to me, on analysis,
that this wish of communicating news, &c.,
is a mere shape of vanity, and arises from
no desire to gratify or amuse any one else.
He told me he had not played the whole
day, but that he had amused himself watching
the game, and trying whether there
was anything in what I had said.

"Well, I spent two hours in that way,"
he said, " and, my dear friend, I must give
it against you. Our friend the Pasha, as
you called him, is right. You don't know
what that man knows."

"He is a shallow creature, I know," I
said; "I wonder how he is even tolerated
here."

"That fellow has a history, I can tell
you. Harems and seraglios, and sacks,
and all that. Romantic to a degree."

"Romantic," I said, angrily; "that is
the genteel name for vice and villany and
rascaldom."

"Hush! here he is. I mustn't abuse
him, as he has me bound—I mean I mustn't
let him hear me abuse him."

D'Eyncourt came up, his head back, his
round hat back also, and with a little pink
on the centre of his "mutton-fat" cheeks.

"Well?" he said, "going in to play—
to step into the bird-lime, and try a
system?"

"I can't play," said Grainger. " I am
going to give up. It's a struggle, and it's
for the best."

"What! going to reform? How many
tricks have you tried in your life, my
friend? Is this the last?"

"Tricks, Mr. D'Eyncourt?" said Grainger,
colouring. " Tricks?"

The other put his head further back, as
if to get a good look, and said, coldly, " I
repeat, tricks, Mr. Grainger."

The other, muttering something to himself,
looked down.

"Yes, I always speak plain. Well,
come in, and let us look at the game. D'ye
hear?"

"No use asking you, Austen," said
Grainger, as it were obeying an order;
"and I won't press you to come. Only
one moment."

He looked very helpless and appealingly
at me.

"Oh, I forgot," said D'Eyncourt; " you
mentioned something about scruples. Stay
with your friend. There's Colonel Manby,
yonder."

I had already, my pet will remember,
rather qualified the resolution I had taken
about going into the rooms. In that way,
I believe, we are not responsible, in any
sort, for the doings of the wicked—at least
as regards men—in different actions. As
well might we look into the lives of all
friends' jealously, and " cut" every one of
them—fathers, brothers—who had done
anything that was not quite correct. I
said:

"I have no scruples of the kind. Merely
walking through, or looking on, does not
affect the question."

High play was going on; the count with
the worn face was in his place, his little
bale of clean notes before him.

"Ah, there he is!" said D'Eyncourt.
"They have got their pigeon. Let me see.
How many feathers has he left? Just a
few, but enough to play with. Yes, they
are giving him two or three back, to stick
into his wing, if he can."

There was a crowd opposite, uttering
the usual ejaculations—much as what the
lower Irish do when a strange story is
told to them: " II a gagné," " C'est le maxi-
moom"—so they pronounce it. " Fooh!"
the breath being drawn in between the
teeth.

"The old story," said D'Eyncourt, contemptuously.

               " Only begin,
               And then win;
               That's their ruse,
               To make you lose;—

a little gambling proverb of my own. He
should be told of the new system."

I had been watching the player, and an
idea occurred to me. I snatched a card