FIVE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING
It was the custom with some of the high flyers, or the bucks, as they
were called, when the card room was closed, to go off together to a
tavern, there to finish the evening drinking, singing, gambling, and
rioting the whole night through and long after daylight. Truly the
town of Lynn witnessed more profligacy and wickedness during this
summer than all its long and ancient history had contained or could
relate.
The assembly was held twice a week--on Tuesday and on Friday. It was
on Tuesday night that a certain statement was made in a drunken
conversation which might have awakened suspicion of some dark design
had it been recorded. A small company of the said high flyers, among
whom were Colonel Lanyon and the young man named Tom Rising, marched
off to the tavern most frequented by them, after the closing of the
rooms, and called for punch, cards, and candles. Then they sat down to
play, with the ungodly and profane discourse which they affected. They
played and drank, the young men drinking fast and hard, the colonel,
after his custom, keeping his head cool.
The night in May is short; the daylight presently began to show
through the red curtains of the tavern window; then the sun rose; the
players went on, regardless of the dawn and of the sun. One of them
pulled back the curtains and blew out the candles. But they went on
noisily. One of them fell off his chair, and lay like a log; the rest
drew close, and continued to drink and to play. Among them no one
played higher or more recklessly than Tom Rising. It was a game in
which one holds the bank and takes the bets of the players. Colonel
Lanyon held the bank, and took Tom's bets, which were high, as readily
as those of the others which were low.
At five in the morning he laid down the cards.
"Gentlemen," he said, "we have played enough, and taken more than
enough, I fear. Let us stop the game at this point."
"You want to stop," said Tom Rising, whose face was flushed and his
speech thick, "because you've been winning. I want my revenge--I will
have my revenge."
"Sir," said the colonel, "any man who says that I refuse revenge
attacks my honour. No, sir. To-morrow, that is to say, this evening,
or any time you please except the present, you shall have your
revenge, and as much as you please. I appeal to the company.
Gentlemen, it is now five o'clock, and outside broad daylight. The
market bells have already begun. Are we drunk or sober?"
"Drunk, colonel, drunk," said the man on the floor.
"If we are drunk we are no longer in a condition fit for play. Let us
therefore adjourn until the evening. Is this fair, gentlemen, or is it
not? I will go on if you please."
"It is quite fair, colonel," one of them replied. "I believe you have
lost, and you might insist on going on."
"Then, let us look to the counters." They played with counters each
representing a guinea or two or five, as had been agreed upon at the
outset. So every man fell to counting and exchanging until all had
done except Tom Rising, who sat apparently stupid with drink. Then
they began to pay each other on the differences.
"Twenty-five guineas, colonel."
The colonel passed over the money with cheerfulness.
"Forty-three guineas, colonel."
He paid this sum--and so on with the rest. He had lost, it appeared,
to every one of the players except Tom Rising, whose reckoning was not
made up. They were all paid immediately and cheerfully. Now the
gentlemen of Norfolk are as honourable in their sport as any in the
kingdom, but they seldom lose without a curse or two. This
cheerfulness, therefore, under ill fortune surprised them.
The colonel turned to Tom, whose eyes were closing. "Mr. Rising, we
will settle, if you please, after we have slept off the punch."
Tom grunted and tried to speak. He was at that point of drunkenness
when he could understand what was said, but spoke with difficulty. It
is one of the many transient stages of intoxication.
"Then, gentlemen," said the colonel, "we can meet again whenever you
please. I only hope that you are satisfied with me for stopping the
play at this point."
"We are, colonel. We are quite satisfied." So they pushed back their
chairs and rose somewhat unsteadily. But they had all won, and
therefore had reason to be satisfied.
"I'm not--not satisfied." Tom Rising managed to get out these words
and tried to, but without success, to sit square and upright.
"Well, sir," said the colonel, "you shall have your revenge
to-morrow."
"I want it now--I'll have it now. Bring another bowl." His head
dropped again.
"The gentleman," said the colonel, "is not in a condition to play. It
would be cruel to play with him in this state."
"Come, Tom," one of them shook him by the arm, "wake up and be
reasonable."
"I've lost again, and I want revenge."
"To-morrow, Tom, the colonel will give you as much revenge as you
please."
Tom made no reply. He seemed asleep.
"He shall have as much revenge as he pleases. Meantime, gentlemen, we
have been pleasant together, so far. But this young gentleman plays
high--very high. I am ready to meet his wishes; but, gentlemen--far be
it from me to hint that he is not a gentleman of large estate--but the
fact is that he has lost pretty heavily and wants to go on
continually."
"Yesterday," Tom spoke with closed eyes, "it was eight hundred. To-day
it's--how much to-day?"
They looked at each other. "Gentlemen," said the colonel, "you have
heard what he says. I hope you will believe me when I assure you that
the high play was forced upon me."
They knew Tom to be the owner of a pretty estate of about £1,200 a
year, and they knew him to be a sportsman, eager and reckless. Eight
hundred pounds is a large sum to raise upon an estate of £1,200, even
if there were no other demands upon it.
"Say, rather, had a good estate," said another.
"I need not point out, gentlemen," the colonel observed, severely,
"the extreme injustice of admitting to our circle those who venture to
play beyond their means. Play demands, above all things, jealousy in
admittance. If men of honour meet for a few hours over the cards, the
least they can demand is that, since they have to pay at sight, or
within reasonable time, no one shall be admitted who is not able to
pay within reasonable time, whatever losses he may make. You and I,
gentlemen," he continued, "have not forced this high play upon our
friend here."
"No. Tom would always fly higher than his neighbours."
"I think, colonel," said one of them gravely, "that this matter
concerns the honour of the place and the county. You come among us a
man of honour; you play and pay honourably. We admit Tom Rising into
our company. He must raise the money. But you will grant him time.
Eight hundred pounds and more----"
"Perhaps a thousand," said the colonel.
"Cannot be raised in a moment. We are not in London; there are no
money lenders with us; and I know not how much has been already raised
upon the estate. But, colonel, rest assured that the money shall be
duly paid. Perhaps it will be well not to admit poor Tom to our table
in future, though it will be a hard matter to deny him."
Then Tom himself lifted his head.
"I can hear what you say, but I am too drunk to talk. Colonel, it's
all right. Wait a day or two." He struggled again to sit upright. One
of his friends loosened his cravat, another took off his wig and
rubbed his head with a wet cloth. "Why," he said, "I am sober again.
Let's have another bowl and another game."
"No, no," his friends cried out together. "Enough, Tom; get up and go
to bed."
"Colonel Lanyon," he said, "and friends all--gentlemen of this
honourable company"--he ran his words together as men in liquor
use--but they understood him perfectly. "I will play as high as I
like; and as deep as I like; and as long as I like. I will play till I
have stripped every man among you to the very bones. Why do I say
this? Because, gentlemen, after Friday night I shall be the richest
man in the county. D'ye hear? The richest man in the county. You don't
know how? Very well. Do you think I am going to tell you? Ho! ho! when
you hear the news, you'll say, 'twas only Tom--only Tom Rising--had
the courage to venture and to win."
"He means the hazard table," said the colonel.
"No; not the hazard table," Tom went on. "Oh! I know the table and the
woman who keeps the bank, and pretends to weep when you lose. I know
about her. I've heard talk about her. What is it? Don't remember. Tell
you to-morrow."
"He should stop talking," said the colonel, "we must not listen to his
wanderings."
"Richest man in the county," he repeated. "Colonel, I like your
company. You lay down your money like a man. In a week, colonel, I'll
have it all; there shan't be a guinea left among you all. Richest man
in county--make--guineas--fly." His head sunk down again. He was once
more speechless.
His friends looked from one to the other. What did Tom Rising mean?
"Gentlemen," said the colonel, "he has been drinking for many days. He
has some kind of a fit upon him. After a sleep he will be better. Just
now he dreams of riches. I have known men in such a condition to see
animals, and think that they are hunted by rats and clawed by devils."
Again Tom lifted his head and babbled confusedly.
"The richest man--the richest man in the whole county. After Friday
night--not to-night--after Friday night. I have found out a short way
to fortune. The richest man in the county."
So they left him sleeping in his chair, with his head on the table
among the glasses and the spilt punch. It was not long, however,
before they discovered what his words had meant. It was not the raving
of a drunken man, but the betrayal in his cups--unfortunately only a
partial revelation of the abominable wickedness by which he proposed
to acquire sudden wealth. Said I not that Tom Rising was never one to
be balked or denied when he had set his heart upon a thing; nor was he
to be restrained by any consideration of law, human or divine; or of
consequences in this world or the next? You shall now hear what he
designed and what he called the shortest way, and how he was going to
become the richest man in the county.