constructed a table to play at cards upon.
When we four, who seemed to be all strangers
to each other—declined to join in the amusement,
they showed themselves desirous of
conforming to our fastidious tastes by
producing three thimbles and a pea. It's the
simplest game to look at, as you may have
observed, but I should recommend you not
to play at it in a mixed company. I warned
my young friends not to do so upon this
occasion, but they persisted, and they accordingly
lost their money: one sovereign, two
sovereigns, a five-pound note, went very
rapidly into the pockets of the individual
who handled those simple domestic implements.
Presently one of the losers got so
excited that he offered to lay twenty-five
pounds upon the next event.

' Now, hands off,' cried he, 'I'll bet that
the pea is not under either of these two
thimbles,'—and, lifting them, he verified his
statement, ' therefore I need not say that it
must of course be under the third.'

"The two men protested that this was not
a fair way of winning the wager, but my
three young friends got so excited as to
protest that they would throw the others out of
the window unless the money was paid;
which at last it was. For my part, I rather
took the side of the sharpers in this dispute,
although I observed that the words in which
the bet was made, could be of no consequence
with two gentlemen such as, it was easy to
see, they were. ' I myself,' said I, 'if I ever
did make a bet, would name the very thimble
under which the pea was hidden, for fifty
pounds; the thing being to me as plain as
daylight.'

"The two proprietors of the table contradicted
this so warmly, and derided my judgment
so contemptuously, that I was actually
induced to lay the money.

"' This,' said I, then, their hands being
withdrawn from the board, ' is the thimble
under which the pea is hidden.'

"' You bet fifty pounds on that,' cried they,
excitedly.

"'Done!' replied I, lifting the thimble.
' Here is the pea; and there,' continued I,
lifting the others very swiftly, ' there is no
pea, as I told you.'

"All that they had won, and all that they
had had originally in their own possession,
was scarcely enough to defray this second
debt of honour which they had thus
incurred. They got out, short of their stopping-
place, at the very next station; and
they will not, I think, trouble the Eastern
Counties' passengers again for some considerable
time."

"And how in the world," inquired I, "did
you manage to win that money?"

"Why, you see," replied Mr. Dagon, with
an ingenuous air, "these gentlemen were
accustomed to withdraw the pea altogether
during their manipulations, so that nobody
could possibly pitch upon the covering
thimble. In order to evade which difficulty,
I took the precaution of taking a pea of my
own, with which, by a little sleight of hand,
I supplied the deficiency."

When my admiration at this device had
been sufficiently expressed, my cousin Jack
entered upon an explanation of the business
which had brought him to the retreat of Mr.
Amalek Dagon.

"You see, Amy, I was obliged to come up
to town about another matter; but, finding
myself there, I could not go away without
getting you to clear up a certain mystery
which has puzzled us down in Warwickshire
greatly. And this is it: Stuart and Ross
(both of the Rhadamanthus Club), and
myself, have been staying together for a few
weeks at Leamington, and were at one time
sadly in want of a fourth man: neither the
points nor the play of those we met with
suited us; or rather, they did not suit Stuart,
who will never sit down twice with any man
who has lost him a trick. At last a stranger
appeared at our hotel, who turned out to be
just such a performer as we wanted. Only
he won thirteen hundred pounds of us in six
days. Now, you. know my play well enough;
that of my two friends is scarcely inferior.
I want to know, therefore, who was the man
who could so spoil, and how he effected it."

"You are quite sure that it was the strange
gentleman who really won the money?"
inquired Mr. Dagon, quietly.

"Quite sure," replied my cousin, laughing,
and without the least trace of annoyance,
"you are right enough to be suspicious (for
such things are not unknown even at the
Rhadamanthus), but you are a little over
sharp this time."

"Then the fourth person," said Mr. Dagon,
thoughtfully, " must have had hazel eyes, and
a pair of very beautiful hands. He also had
a trick of twitching his upper lip, which is a
very foolish habit indeed for any gentleman
who does not wish to be recognised."

"That's the man, sir," cried my cousin,
with evident satisfaction, " who did three of
the best whist-players in England out of
thirteen hundred pounds in a week."

"Well, Sir John," repeated the other,
coolly, " and I know a man who deserves to
have won it more than he—Charley Leger,
as hard working, pains-taking a young
fellow, mind you, as ever breathed. A lad
who has improved his natural gifts (and
what a touch that fellow was born with!) as
I believe, to the very utmost. He allotted
two of the best and pleasantest years of his
life—when other young men are but too apt
to give themselves up to vice and dissipation
—entirely to the perfection of that art which
has cost you so dear."

"It must have been very high art indeed
that could have protected his fingers,"
observed my cousin, " from three such pairs of
eyes as he had upon them."

"It was," answered Mr. Dagon, enthusiastically;