surrounded by a stone wall. As we crossed the front garden on our
way to the door, I noticed against the side of the house two

kennels, inhabited by two large watch-dogs. Was the proprietor
afraid of thieves?

III.
THE moment we were introduced to the drawing-room, my suspicions

of the company we were likely to meet with were fully confirmed.
"Cards, billiards, and betting"--there was the inscription

legibly written on the manner and appearance of Captain Peterkin.
The bright-eyed yellow old lady who kept the boarding-house would

have been worth five thousand pounds in jewelry alone, if the
ornaments which profusely covered her had been genuine precious

stones. The younger ladies present had their cheeks as highly
rouged and their eyelids as elaborately penciled in black as if

they were going on the stage, instead of going to dinner. We
found these fair creatures drinking Madeira as a whet to their

appetites. Among the men, there were two who struck me as the
most finished and complete blackguards whom I had ever met with

in all my experience, at home and abroad. One, with a brown face
and a broken nose, was presented to us by the title of

"Commander," and was described as a person of great wealth and
distinction in Peru, traveling for amusement. The other wore a

military uniform and decorations, and was spoken of as "the
General." A bold bullying manner, a fat sodden face, little

leering eyes, and greasy-looking hands, made this man so
repellent to me that I privately longed to kick him. Romayne had

evidently been announced, before our arrival, as a landed
gentleman with a large income. Men and women vied in servile

attentions to him. When we went into the dining-room, the
fascinating creature who sat next to him held her fan before her

face, and so made a private interview of it between the rich
Englishman and herself. With regard to the dinner, I shall only

report that it justified Captain Peterkin's boast, in some degree
at least. The wine was good, and the conversation became gay to

the verge of indelicacy. Usually the most temperate of men,
Romayne was tempted by his neighbors into drinking freely. I was

unfortunately seated at the opposite extremity of the table, and
I had no opportunity of warning him.

The dinner reached its conclusion, and we all returned together,
on the foreign plan, to coffee and cigars in the drawing-room.

The women smoked, and drank liqueurs as well as coffee, with the
men. One of them went to the piano, and a little impromptu ball

followed, the ladies dancing with their cigarettes in their
mouths. Keeping my eyes and ears on the alert, I saw an

innocent-looking table, with a surface of rosewood, suddenly
develop a substance of green cloth. At the same time, a neat

little roulette-table made its appearance from a hiding-place in
a sofa. Passing near the venerablelandlady, I heard her ask the

servant, in a whisper, "if the dogs were loose?" After what I had
observed, I could only conclude that the dogs were used as a

patrol, to give the alarm in case of a descent of the police. It
was plainly high time to thank Captain Peterkin for his

hospitality, and to take our leave.
"We have had enough of this," I whispered to Romayne in English.

"Let us go."
In these days it is a delusion to suppose that you can speak

confidentially in the English language, when French people are
within hearing. One of the ladies asked Romayne, tenderly, if he

was tired of her already. Another reminded him that it was
raining heavily (as we could all hear), and suggested waiting

until it cleared up. The hideous General waved his greasy hand in
the direction of the card table, and said, "The game is waiting

for us."
Romayne was excited, but not stupefied, by the wine he had drunk.

He answered, discreetly enough, "I must beg you to excuse me; I
am a poor card player."

The General suddenly looked grave. "You are speaking, sir, under
a strange misapprehension," he said. "Our game is

lansquenet--essentially a game of chance. With luck, the poorest
player is a match for the whole table."

Romayne persisted in his refusal. As a matter of course, I
supported him, with all needful care to avoid giving offense. The

General took offense, nevertheless. He crossed his arms on his
breast, and looked at us fiercely.

"Does this mean, gentlemen, that you distrust the company?" he
asked.

The broken-nosed Commander, hearing the question, immediately
joined us, in the interests of peace--bearing with him the

elements of persuasion, under the form of a lady on his arm.
The lady stepped briskly forward, and tapped the General on the

shoulder with her fan. "I am one of the company," she said, "and
I am sure Mr. Romayne doesn't distrust _me_." She turned to

Romayne with her most irresistible smile. "A gentleman always
plays cards," she resumed, "when he has a lady for a partner. Let

us join our interests at the table--and, dear Mr. Romayne, don't
risk too much!" She put her pretty little purse into his hand,

and looked as if she had been in love with him for half her
lifetime.

The fatal influence of the sex, assisted by wine, produced the
inevitable result. Romayne allowed himself to be led to the card

table. For a moment the General delayed the beginning of the
game. After what had happened, it was necessary that he should

assert the strict sense of justice that was in him. "We are all
honorable men," he began.

"And brave men," the Commander added, admiring the General.
"And brave men," the General admitted, admiring the Commander.

"Gentlemen, if I have been led into expressing myself with
unnecessary warmth of feeling, I apologize, and regret it.

"Nobly spoken!" the Commander pronounced. The General put his
hand on his heart and bowed. The game began.

As the poorest man of the two I had escaped the attentions
lavished by the ladies on Romayne. At the same time I was obliged

to pay for my dinner, by taking some part in the proceedings of
the evening. Small stakes were allowed, I found, at roulette;

and, besides, the heavy chances in favor of the table made it
hardly worth while to run the risk of cheating in this case. I

placed myself next to the least rascally-looking man in the
company, and played roulette.

For a wonder, I was successful at the first attempt. My neighbor
handed me my winnings. "I have lost every farthing I possess," he

whispered to me, piteously, "and I have a wife and children at
home." I lent the poor wretch five francs. He smiled faintly as

he looked at the money. "It reminds me," he said, "of my last
transaction, when I borrowed of that gentleman there, who is

betting on the General's luck at the card table. Beware of
employing him as I did. What do you think I got for my note of

hand of four thousand francs? A hundred bottles of champagne,
fifty bottles of ink, fifty bottles of blacking, three dozen

handkerchiefs, two pictures by unknown masters, two shawls, one
hundred maps, _and_--five francs."

We went on playing. My luck deserted me; I lost, and lost, and
lost again. From time to time I looked round at the card table.

The "deal" had fallen early to the General, and it seemed to be
indefinitely prolonged. A heap of notes and gold (won mainly from

Romayne, as I afterward discovered) lay before him. As for my
neighbor, the unhappy possessor of the bottles of blacking, the

pictures by unknown masters, and the rest of it, he won, and then
rashly presumed on his good fortune. Deprived of his last

farthing, he retired into a corner of the room, and consoled