"And how are you ever to get down again ?" said Dr. Mildman. "Has the pretty bird flown yet?" cried Oaklands, hastily entering the room; when, observing the addition the party had received during his absence, he started back, murmuring, in an under tone, "The old gentleman, by Jove!" Quickly recovering himself, however, he sprang upon a chair, and seizing Coleman in his arms, whisked him down with more haste than ceremony; and going up to Dr. Mildman, said respectfully, "That was a bit of folly of mine, sir; I put him up there; I merely did it for a joke, and I hadn't an idea you would come in and find him." "Never mind," replied Dr. Mildman, good-naturedly, "as you have contrived to get him down again safely, there is no harm done;" adding, as he left the room, "that young man is as strong as Hercules. I hope he'll never take it into his head to pop me up anywhere, for I am sure he could do it if he chose." CHAPTER IX. A DENOUEMENT. "Play not for gain but sport; who plays for more Herbert. * * and "If you are so bold as to venture a blowing-up, look closely to it! for the plot lies deadly deep; * * but of all things have a care of putting it in your pocket, consider well what you do, and look to yourself, if you can shun it, read it not; * * * for there is danger and jeopardy in it."-Dr. Eachard. In the course of my walk that afternoon, I called at the billiardrooms in FStreet, in order to pay Oaklands' subscription. On inquiring for Mr. Johnson, the proprietor, I was told that he was engaged at present, but that if I did not mind waiting for a few minutes, he would be able to attend to me. To this I agreed, and was shown into a small room down stairs, which, from its sanded floor, and a strong odour of stale tobacco which pervaded it, was apparently used as a smoking-room. It opened into what seemed to be a rather spacious apartment, from which it was divided by a glass half-door, across the lower panes of which hung a green blind: this door, on my entrance, was standing slightly ajar. The day being cold, there was a bright fire burning on the hearth; near this I seated myself, and, seduced by its drowsy influence, fell into a kind of trance, in which, between sleeping and waking, my mind wandered away to a far different scene, among well-known forms and familiar faces, that had been strangers to me now for many a long day. From this day-dream I was aroused by sounds, which, proceeding from the adjoining apartment, resolved themselves, as I became more thoroughly awake, into the voices of two persons apparently engaged in angry colloquy. "I tell you," said a gruff voice, which somehow seemed familiar to me "I tell you it is the only chance for you; you must contrive to bring him here again, and that without loss of time.” "Must I again repeat that the thing is impossible ?" was the reply, in tones I knew but too well; "utterly impossible; when once his mind is made up, and he takes the trouble to exert himself, he is immovable; nothing can shake his determination." "And is this your boasted skill and management ?" rejoined the first speaker; "how comes it, pray, that this overgrown child, who seemed the other day to be held as nicely in leading-strings as need be, this raw boy, whose hot-headedness, simplicity, and indolence rendered him as easy a pigeon to pluck as one could desire; how comes it, I say, that he has taken alarm in this sudden manner, so as to refuse to come here any more? you've bungled this matter most shamefully, sir, and must take the consequences." "That's just the point I cannot make out," replied the second speaker, who, as the reader has probably discovered, was none other than Cumberland; "it's easy enough for you to lay it all to my mismanagement, Captain Spicer, but I tell you it is no such thing; did I not accommodate my play to his, always appearing to win by some accident, so that the fool actually believed himself the better player, while he was losing from twenty to thirty pounds a day? Didn't I excite him, and lead him on by a mixture of flattery and defiance, so that he often fancied he was persuading me to play against my will, and was so ready to bet that I might have won three times what I have of him, if you had not advised me to go on quietly, and by degrees? Did not you refuse when I wished you to take him in hand yourself, because you said I understood him best, and managed him admirably? No, I believe that detestyoung Fairlegh is at the bottom of it: I observed him watching me with that calm, steadfast glance of his, that I hated him for from the first moment I saw him; I felt certain some mischief would arise from it." able "Yes!" replied Spicer, "that was your fault too: why did you let the other bring him; every fool knows that lookers-on see most of the game." "I was afraid to say much against it, lest Oaklands should suspect anything," rejoined Cumberland; "but I wish to Heaven I had now; I might have been sure no good would come from it— that boy is my evil genius." “I have no time for talking about geniuses, and such confounded stuff," observed Spicer, angrily, "so now to business, Mr. Cumberland: you are aware you owe me two hundred pounds, I presume?" Cumberland grumbled out an unwilling assent, to which he appended a muttered remark not exactly calculated to enhance the Captain's future comfort. |