FREDERICK HOLDFAST'S STATEMENT (CONTINUED).
At this time Sydney began to feel the effects of his temerity in
introducing Grace to the ball. Certain rumours and whispers affecting
Grace's character and Sydney's connection with her, caused the lady
patronesses of the ball to institute inquiries, and the consequence was
that Sydney was quietly but firmly banished from society. Houses which
he was in the habit of visiting were closed against him; mothers who had
held out a welcome hand to him now frigidly returned his bow or openly
cut him; fathers--bound to an outward show of morality--turned their
backs upon him or affected not to see him; marriageable young ladies,
with whom, as an unengaged man, he had hitherto been an adorable being,
looked any way but in his direction when they met in the thoroughfares.
When Sydney became aware of this alteration in his social standing, he
tested it to its fullest extent, and having quite convinced himself,
proclaimed open defiance.
"War to the knife," he said.
He carried the war into the enemy's quarters. He appeared with Grace
upon every public occasion that presented itself. In the theatre he
engaged the best and most conspicuous seats, and sat by the side of
Grace with Society's eyes full upon him. It did not help his cause that
Grace was invariably the most beautifully-dressed lady in the assembly,
and that her brightness and animation attracted general admiration.
Adolph espoused Grace's cause with complete disregard of consequences;
his cousin, Mr. Pelham, however, held aloof, and simply bowed to her in
public.
"Adolph is very fond of Grace," I said to Sydney.
"She is fond of him, too," responded Sydney. "What of that? He is but a
boy!"
It struck me as strange that, out of Grace's house, Adolph and Mr.
Pelham scarcely ever spoke to each other; as cousins they should have
been more intimate. But this circumstance helped to strengthen my
suspicions, and to render me more keenly watchful of the course of
events. Before long Mr. Pelham became an adept at roulette; the first
night he spent at Grace's house was the only night on which he lost.
Good luck ranged itself on his side, and he generally departed with a
comfortable sum in his possession. True, it was represented principally
by I. O. U.'s., but with the exception of Sydney there was not one of us
who could not afford immediately to pay his losses. For my own part I
did not lose; I even won a little; I played for small stakes, and Mr.
Pelham, winning so largely from others, did not grudge paying me,
without commenting on my caution or timidity. He now always acted as
banker at roulette; taking his seat at the head of the table with the
accustomed air of a professional; never making a mistake in paying or
receiving. His aptitude was wonderful. Sydney's losses grew larger and
larger, and the more he lost the more recklessly he betted. Mr. Pelham
was soon his principal creditor, and held the largest portion of his
paper.
One day, when I was out riding, my horse cast a shoe. The accident
happened within a couple of hundred yards of Grace's cottage. There was
a blacksmith near, and it occurred to me to leave my horse with the
blacksmith, and drop in upon Grace for a bit of lunch.
Upon my summons at the door being answered, I was informed that Grace
was not at home. Having a little time to spare, I strolled about the
country lanes, and came suddenly upon a lady and gentleman conversing
together. Their backs were towards me, but I recognised them instantly.
The lady was Grace, and the gentleman Mr. Pelham. They were conversing
earnestly, and I should have retired immediately had it not been for
the first few words which reached my ears. They were spoken by Mr.
Pelham, who said:
"It is time to gather in the harvest. We must get your fool of a lover
to stump up. Here is a list of his I O U's--in all, more than fourteen
thousand pounds. We shall be able to cut a dash, my girl. We'll go to
Monaco again, and this time we'll break the bank."
"I'm agreeable," replied Grace; "I am tired of this life, and I don't
think I could keep up my part much longer. Sydney is all very well, but
he is too lackadaisical."
"I should think he is, for such as you, Grace," said Mr. Pelham; "too
goody-goody, eh, my girl? You want a man with a spice of the devil in
him. But he has suited our turn, and you have played your part well.
Give me some praise. Haven't I been magnanimous in trusting you with
him--haven't I been confiding? You wouldn't get many lovers like
me--trusting you out of their sight, without ever a shadow of
suspicion. Then there's our young pigeon, Adolph----"
"A child!" cried Grace.
"Quite old enough," retorted Mr. Pelham, "for me to twist his neck for
him if I had any doubts of you. But I haven't, my girl. It is not only
love, but interest, that binds us together."
They passed on out of my sight without having perceived me. I was
astounded, not by the discovery, but by the coarse, brutal nature of the
plot in which Sydney's honour was sacrificed. This woman, Grace, was a
worthless schemer and a deliberate cheat. The man, Mr. Pelham, was a
blackleg and a ruffian. O, that such a nature as my friend Sydney's
should have been so played upon! That such a noble heart as his should
have been so basely betrayed! Here was my difficulty. It was the very
nobility and generosity of his nature that would cause him openly to
break with me if I attempted to open his eyes to the treachery, backed
only by the imperfect testimony I could bring forward. His first step
would be to rush to Grace, and inform her of my accusation, and once
upon their guard, this man and this woman would weave their net about
him too cunningly and cleverly to allow him an opportunity to break
through its meshes. Whom could I enlist to aid me? I had an intimate
friend whose assistance I would have asked, and he would freely have
given it, but he was absent from Oxford. I could think of but one ally,
a dangerous friend to enlist because of his inexperience and of his
feelings towards Grace. But I determined to risk it. I spoke to Adolph.
"Adolph," I said, "can we two speak together in perfect confidence, as
man to man?"
"Yes," replied the lad, colouring, "in perfect confidence. I hope you
are not going to lecture me about Grace."
"Why should I lecture you about her?" I asked, glad at this clearing of
the ground. "You are fond of her, I know, but that is a matter of the
heart. You would do nothing dishonourable, nor would you be a party to
dishonour."
"No, indeed," he cried, and went no further.
His face was scarlet; I knew in what way his conscience was pricked.
"We all make mistakes," I said, half gaily; I did not wish to frighten
him by an over-display of seriousness; "the best as well as the worst of
us; the oldest as well as the youngest of us. We have a good many dreams
in life, Adolph, to which we cling in earnestness and true faith, and
when we awake from them and our suffering is over, we smile at ourselves
for our credulity. You are dreaming such a dream now, and if I rouse you
from it I do so for a good purpose, and out of consideration for another
as well as for yourself. Tell me--why did you introduce Mr. Pelham into
Grace's house as your cousin? You are silent. Shall I answer for you? It
was because Grace herself asked you to do so."
"Yes," said Adolph, "she asked me, and I did it."
"Are you satisfied with yourself for having done so?" I asked.
"No," he replied.
"I will tell you why," I said. "You never saw Mr. Pelham until he made
his appearance on that unfortunate evening, and you have discovered, as
we have all discovered, that he is not a gentleman."
"He is Grace's friend," said Adolph.
"Does that speak in her favour, or in his? Think over certain events,
Adolph. Mr. Pelham, a stranger to all of us, is the friend of this lady.
But if you will remember, upon his first visits, she and he scarcely
spoke to each other, and when they meet in public the recognition that
passes between them is so slight as to be remarkable. There is something
suspicious in this, which even you, infatuated as you are, will
recognise. Whom would you choose for your friend, Mr. Pelham or Sydney
Campbell? In whose company would you rather be seen--whose hand would
you rather shake--to whose honour would you rather trust your honour?"
"To Sydney Campbell," said Adolph. "There is no choice between them.
Sydney is a gentleman. Mr. Pelham is a ----"
He did not complete the sentence; I supplied the omission. "Mr. Pelham
is a blackleg. You start! Before you are many days older I will prove it
to you; if I do not, I will submit to any penalty you may inflict upon
me."
He puckered his brows. "You are not the only one," he said, biting his
lips, "who has spoken against him."
"There are others, then, whose suspicions have been aroused?"
"Yes, Mr. ----" (mentioning the most accomplished card-player in our
set) "says that he palms the cards or has the devil's luck."
"The proof of either in any man would be sufficient to make him unfit
company for gentlemen, for honourable men who play fair. Adolph,
remember, you are responsible for him." The lad winced. "There is but
one manly course before you--to clear the character of this man, or to
expose him. If we are doing him an injustice in our estimate of him,
there can be no exposure; he will come out of the fire unscathed. If we
succeed in proving our suspicions unfounded, you will be clear. And even
then I should advise you to make a clean breast of it. Subterfuge and
deceit, my dear lad, are not gentlemen's weapons. When we strike a man,
we strike him in the face--we do not stab in the back."
"What will Grace say?" murmured Adolph.
"What _can_ she say? In the case of an exposure, it is you who have been
wronged, not she. She knew the character of the man whom she induced
you to introduce as your cousin--to you he was utterly unknown. You had
never set eyes on him before that evening. As you are answerable to us,
so is she answerable to you. And if she reproach you unreasonably, ask
her--prepare for a shock, Adolph; I am going to give you one straight
from the shoulder--ask her whether less than three lovers at a time will
not content her."
"Mr. Holdfast," cried Adolph, drawing himself up, "I request an
explanation of your words."
"You shall have it, Adolph. First and foremost, is not Sydney Campbell,
your friend and mine, is he not Grace's accepted lover? You shrink; why?
Because you also, in some sense, are her accepted lover. Men have eyes,
Adolph, and you cannot be so simple as to suppose you have escaped
observation. I ask you for no confession, but many of us have seen and
remarked upon your infatuation. Now, say that Grace has encouraged you.
Is that honest on her part towards Sydney? Say that you have made love
to her secretly, led on by the force of your passion, and perhaps a
little by her--is that honest on _your_ part towards Sydney? It strikes
me, if the case be as I have represented it, that Sydney is much wronged
by the young lad in whom he places full confidence, and by the lady to
whom he has given his love. Come, Adolph, if I have cut deep, it is
out of friendship. It is an ugly business, my lad, and I can find no
justification for it. But the worst part of the unhappy story remains
to be disclosed. Sydney Campbell is this lady's lover, and she
encourages him; you are this lady's lover, and she encourages you; Mr.
Pelham is this lady's lover, and she is his. You may well turn pale.
She brings this blackleg lover of hers into the house--into Sydney's
house--under false colours. On my oath, Adolph, I am speaking the truth
when I speak of Grace as Mr. Pelham's lover. She plays _you_ into his
hands--but you are subsidiary in the affair, my lad. The big stake lies
with our friend Sydney. She plays _him_ into this blackleg's hands,
and sullies the reputation and breaks the heart of as high-minded a
gentleman as you and I can hope to meet again in life!"
I had spoken earnestly, and I saw that I had produced the impression I
desired. Then I related to Adolph all that I knew, and having driven
conviction home to him, we made a solemn compact to do our best to open
Sydney's eyes to the infamous scheme of which he was the victim. Adolph
was to act implicitly under my instructions; I remember how troubled
he was when he left me, and I judged it well that he should be left to
himself in his suffering. Poor lad! It was his first experience in human
treachery, and he suffered the more that his heart was confiding and
tender.
On this evening it was that Sydney, in my company, lashed himself into a
furious state of indignation at a slight that had been put upon Grace in
his hearing. It occurred in a club, and Sidney, with a violent display
of temper, defended Grace, and attacked the character of the gentleman
who had uttered a simple word or two to Grace's disparagement. Sydney
was not content with attacking the character of the gentleman; he
attacked the lady members of the gentleman's family, with whom he had
once been intimate, and called them a parcel of scheming, jealous jades,
who could not believe in purity because they did not themselves possess
it. He exceeded the bounds of moderation, it must be confessed, and a
scene ensued that was not soon forgotten.
"The injustice of the world," cried Sydney to me, "is enough to drive an
earnest man mad--as I have no doubt it has driven many. That gentleman
and his mother and sisters would lower their false faces to the ground
before Lady this and Lady that"--he mentioned the names of the ladies,
but it is unnecessary to set them down here--"who are wealthy and highly
connected, but who are not fit to tie the shoe-strings of my poor
persecuted Grace, nor the shoe-strings of any girl who has a spark of
virtue in her. You have seen Grace times enough now, Fred, to be able
to appreciate her purity, her modesty, her innocence, at their proper
worth. There lives not on earth a woman more worthy the love and esteem
of man!"
Then he broke out into a rhapsody of extravagant adoration which would
have amazed me had I not been acquainted with the intense chivalry of
his nature. The more Grace was vilified, the more stoutly would he stand
by her; the stronger the detraction, the stronger his love. It was not
while he was in such a humour as this that I could commence to play the
part of an honest Iago.
"By heavens!" he cried, flourishing a letter; "here is my father also
coming forward to strike a feeble woman, whose only armour is her
virtue. In this letter he expresses his sorrow at the intelligence which
has reached him that I am getting myself talked about in connection
with a woman of disgraceful character. The honour of his name is in my
keeping, he says, and he looks to me to do nothing to tarnish it. Nor
will I. To stand up, as I am standing up, against the world, in defence
of virtue, purity, and innocence, can but reflect honour on the highest,
and so I have told him. Look you, Fred; I know what I am staking in this
matter. I am staking my life, and my heart, and all that is precious to
my better nature; and the prize is worth it."
We adjourned to Grace's house, where Sydney paid Grace the most delicate
attention; it was as though he felt that he owed her reparation for the
ill opinion of the world. It was an eventful night; Sydney proposed to
take the bank at roulette, and it appeared as if his luck had really
turned. He won back all the I O U's he had given us, and his only
creditor was Mr. Pelham, who had won or lost but a small sum. Sydney
twitted him for the smallness of his stakes, and Mr. Pelham, seemingly
stung by the sarcasm, plunged heavily. By mutual consent the limit
was increased, and the battle between the two became so exciting that
the other players round the table staked but trifling amounts, their
attention being engrossed by the dangerous duel. Fortune being in the
balance, now Sydney won, now Mr. Pelham; but presently Mr. Pelham, with
the air of a man who intended to win all or lose all, threw a hundred
pounds I O U upon a number. Sydney looked grave for a moment, and then,
with a careless toss of the head, turned the wheel. The number did not
turn up, and Sydney won the hundred; all felt relieved, for if the
number Mr. Pelham backed had come up, it would have cost Sydney
thirty-five hundred pounds in one coup.
"Again?" asked Mr. Pelham, tauntingly.
"Again," assented Sydney, with a scornful laugh.
Mr. Pelham threw down upon a number another of Sydney's I O U for a
hundred, and again Sydney won. This occurred five or six times in
succession until Sydney cried,
"Double it, if you wish!"
Mr. Pelham accepted the challenge; but now he appeared to play with
greater deliberation. He placed two hundred pounds each on numbers 5 and
24, exactly opposite zero. I looked at Grace; she was leaning over the
table, watching the duel with eager eyes, and I could see that her
whole soul was in the game. Round and round went the wheel, and we all
followed the progress of the marble with the most intense interest. The
ball fell into 28, and Sydney won.
"I shall stick to my numbers," said Mr. Pelham, staking similar amounts
upon the same two numbers. This time zero appeared, and Sydney swept
the board. Again the two numbers were backed for the high stakes, and
now the marble rolled into number 24.
"There's nothing like constancy," cried Mr. Pelham.
Sydney, with a steady hand, wrote out an I O U for seven thousand
pounds, and threw it over to Mr. Pelham.
Once more the same numbers were backed, and the devil sent the marble
rolling back for the second time into number 24.
"Always back the last number and the last colour," cried Mr. Pelham.
"For a novice, Pelham," remarked one of our party, "you play exceedingly
well."
The slight sneer which accompanied the remark was not lost upon us, but
Mr. Pelham did not appear to notice it. I believe at that moment there
was not a man in the room who would not have been made happy by the
opportunity of picking a quarrel with him.
"There is nothing difficult to learn in it," said Mr. Pelham; "even such
a poor player as myself may happen to be favoured by fortune."
Sydney, meanwhile, had written another I O U for seven thousand pounds;
he handed it to Mr. Pelham, saying,
"You will give me my revenge?"
"Most certainly," replied Mr. Pelham. "Now?"
"No," said Sydney, "to-morrow night. You hold a great deal of my paper?"
Mr. Pelham produced his pocket-book, and added up some figures.
"Something under twenty thousand," said Mr. Pelham.
Sydney nodded gravely, and not rising from his seat, twirled the wheel
carelessly, and apparently in deep thought. Roulette, however, was over
for the night, and the men broke up into small parties, some playing
hazard, some unlimited loo. I alone remained with Sydney by the wheel.
As carelessly as himself, I threw the marble in as he turned the wheel.
He gave me an intelligent glance, and we continued our idle game for a
couple of dozen turns of the wheel. Numbers 5 or 24 came up on average
about once in every six turns. Sydney rose from the table, and in such
a manner as not to attract attention I examined the wheel. It did not
occupy me long to discover that it had been tampered with. The spaces
between the two numbers Mr. Pelham had backed were wider than those
which divided the other numbers, and the circumstance of numbers 5 and
24 being opposite Zero gave the backer an immense advantage. The chances
in his favour were increased by another discovery I made. Where these
two lucky numbers were situated there was a deeper bevel than in any
other part of the circle. I ascertained this both by sight and touch.
There was no further doubt in my mind as to the character of Mr. Pelham,
nor, indeed, as to the character of Grace. The wheel could not have been
tampered with had they not been in collusion.
Before we broke up, a little private conversation took place between the
two men.
Mr. Pelham put a question to Sydney, and Sydney replied,
"Certainly. Give yourself no anxiety."
Then he drew me aside, and asked me if I could let him have a hundred
pounds.
"It is for Grace," he said, "she is short of money; and so am I," he
added with a laugh.
I gave him the money, and we broke up for the night.
Sydney and I walked home in company, excusing ourselves from the others.
It was a fine night, and we lit our cigars, and walked on for a while in
silence, which Sydney was the first to break.
"I wanted your company badly," he said; "my mind is troubled."
"I am your friend, Sydney," I said.
He returned the pressure of my hand. "Thank you, Fred. My mind is
troubled about Mr. Pelham. There is no reason why he should not win from
me as easily as, with luck on my side, I might win from him. But I am
not satisfied. It appears to me that the numbers he backed and won upon
were the numbers he intended to back and win upon. If so, it denotes
design. How does it strike you?"
"With you as banker, I will back numbers 5 and 24," I replied, "and will
undertake to win a fortune of you in an hour or two. Always supposing
that the wheel is the same as it was to-night."
"It struck me as strange," he said thoughtfully; "until to-night my
suspicions have not been excited. Had any of you won my money, I should
have thought less of it. You were trying the wheel as I turned it, after
play was over. Confirm or destroy the impression on my mind."
"I must confirm it. The numbers Mr. Pelham backed have been tampered
with."
"Are you certain?"
"Most certain."
He lit a fresh cigar, and threw away the old one.
"These things are not done without human agency, Fred."
"Indeed not. Very skilful hands have been at work upon that wheel. Were
it not that I desire not to risk your friendship, Sydney, which I value
highly, I should impart something to you concerning Mr. Pelham which has
come to my knowledge."
He did not reply for a few moments, and then he said, "We tremble on the
brink sometimes, but it is only cowards who fly. How beautiful the night
is, Fred! The world is very lovely--the stars to me are living things.
Even now, when I seem to feel that Fate has something horrible in store
for me, they whisper peace into my soul. Ah, friend of mine! that a
man's hope, and heart, and holiest wish should be at the mercy of a
rickster! It is sad and laughable. This flower in my coat was given to
me by Grace; it is dead." He made a motion as if he would fling it from
him, but he restrained himself, and crushing it in his hand, put it
into his breast pocket. As I looked at him with loving pity, he put his
handkerchief to his mouth, and drew it away, stained with blood.
"Sydney!" I cried, in alarm.
"It is nothing," he said; "I have been spitting blood for a long time
past. Now tell me what has come to your knowledge respecting Mr. Pelham.
Do not fear--you will not risk my friendship, upon which you place far
too high a value."
I said simply, "He is not Adolph's cousin."
"How do you know that?"
"From Adolph himself; he and I have been speaking to each other in
confidence."
"What was the lad's motive in introducing Mr. Pelham to us with a
falsehood?"
"He did so by desire of Grace."
"Then Grace must have been acquainted with Mr. Pelham."
"It naturally follows, to the mind of one who does not wilfully blind
himself to inexorable fact. Sydney, let us walk back in the direction of
Grace's house. It is a whim of mine, and will do no harm."
"It can do no good."
"Sydney," I said impressively, "as surely as we are now walking side by
side conversing on a theme which is bringing torture to your heart, so
surely do I know what I dare not impart to you. Come, humour me."
I turned him gently towards Grace's house, and we walked to the
well-known spot. It was an hour since we parted from her, but there was
no sign of repose in the house. The windows of the sitting-room were lit
up from within, and I drew Sydney close enough to them to hear the sound
of laughter--the laughter of a man and a woman.
"For God's sake," said Sydney, "let us get away from this place!"
He ran so swiftly from me towards the town that it was long before I
came up to him, and then I found him with a deathly-white face, and a
heart palpitating wildly from mental and physical exhaustion. I assisted
him home, and we parted without exchanging another word on the subject.
All that he said was,
"To-morrow night I am to have my revenge. You will come to the
cottage?"
It was tacitly understood that the night was to be devoted to a gambling
duel between Sydney and Mr. Pelham, and expectation was on every face.
Grace looked bewitching, and exhibited more than usual tenderness
towards Sydney, and he, on his part, was never more attentive and
devoted in his conduct towards her than he was on this evening. He was a
singularly handsome man, and the contrast between him and his opponent
was very marked. Mr. Pelham, who was the last to arrive, was cool
and collected enough, but he was inferior to Sydney in polish and
gentlemanly bearing. The first hour was passed in badinage and lively
conversation, and then roulette was proposed. Sydney laughingly shook
his head.
"Roulette will be too slow for Mr. Pelham and myself," he said. "We must
have a more direct trial of skill. I propose, Mr. Pelham, a duel with
the dice."
"Dice be it," said Mr. Pelham, and the two men sat down to Hazard. They
played low at first, but this was only to whet the appetite, and within
an hour the stakes became higher than had ever been played for in that
house. In the course of the play, Sydney said to his opponent,
"I have promised to settle up with you in a few days, Mr. Pelham, should
you rise a winner, and you may depend upon my keeping my word. Mr.
Pelham, gentlemen, is called abroad, and I must not remain his debtor.
Men of honour know what is due to each other; if I win from Mr. Pelham
to-night I shall expect him to pay me. It seems as if good fortune were
on my side."
It really appeared to be so, and we all rejoiced. During a couple
of hours' play Sydney had won from Mr. Pelham between six and seven
thousand pounds. Both men were playing with coolness and judgment, but
even when Mr. Pelham was the setter, good luck remained with Sydney.
For a great part of these two hours Grace remained by the side of the
players, and when she moved away Sydney called her back, saying that she
gave him luck. By midnight Sydney had won back over fifteen thousand
pounds, and then an adjournment for supper was called. All but Sydney
and Mr. Pelham responded to the invitation; they were too deeply
interested in their duel to rise from their table, and thus it happened
that they were left for a time with no witness but Adolph, who said he
could not eat. When we returned from the supper table they had changed
their game. They were playing now with three dice, the highest throw for
varying sums, from a hundred to a thousand pounds. Sydney's good luck
appeared to have deserted him; he was now losing heavily. He cried out
to us not to crowd round the table.
"Do you think we are playing for life and death?" he exclaimed, with a
wild laugh. "Come, Mr. Pelham, two thousand on this throw!"
With glittering eyes and teeth firmly set, Mr. Pelham assented, and won.
"Five thousand!" cried Sydney, and threw fourteen. "Ten to one in
hundreds you do not beat it."
"Done!" said Mr. Pelham, and threw sixteen.
"You must be most unfortunate in your love affairs, Mr. Pelham," said
Sydney. "How do we stand now?"
Mr. Pelham passed over to his opponent a sheet of paper with figures on
it.
"Twenty-four thousand," cried Sydney. "Enough to set up a house in
Belgravia. I am weary of this work. One throw for the last--double or
quits. Your last chance, and mine. Done?"
"Done!" said Mr. Pelham, with white lips.
Every man in the room suspended his game, and rose to witness this mad
play.
"I protest!" said Sydney, turning almost savagely upon his friends. "Go
to your tables, and concern yourself with your own counters. We can
settle our affair without witnesses. Grace, a glass of champagne."
He drank three glasses in succession, and said to Mr. Pelham, with only
myself and Adolph standing by the small table,
"This is a moment to remember. Fortune! be kind! I throw first.
Fifteen! I am a free man. Now, Mr. Pelham."
"Sixteen!" said Mr. Pelham, raising his box.
The word had no sooner passed his lips than his wrist was seized with a
grasp of iron by Sydney, and taking up this unrehearsed cue, I pinned
the cheat to his chair. He uttered a cry of rage, but he could neither
rise nor release his wrist from Sydney's hold. This incident brought all
the players to their feet.
"Gentlemen," said Sydney, calmly, "this man and I have been playing for
something more than money, but it is simply a question of honour in
which money is involved that I ask you to decide. Here are my dice, and
here my throw. There are Mr. Pelham's dice, and there his throw. I call
upon you to constitute yourselves a committee of honour, and examine the
dice we each used in the last throw."
They removed the dice, and discovered those used by Mr. Pelham to be
loaded. It would have gone hard with him if Sydney had not interfered.
"Hold!" he cried. "Fair play for rogue and gentleman! Release him,
Fred." I released the blackleg, and he sat helpless in his chair,
and glared at us. But he saw that his fate was in our hands, and he
submitted. Sydney continued: "Mr. Pelham, these dice I have thrown with
are fair dice, such as are used by gentlemen. My throw is fifteen. Take
them, and throw against it. On my honour, if you beat my cast, I will
endeavour to pay you what I owe you, despite the fact that the I O U's
you hold of mine have been unfairly won."
The blackleg took the box, and rattled the dice in it, gazing upon us
with a ghastly smile, and then deliberately replaced the box on the
table, mouth upwards.
"What guarantee have I," he asked, "that in the event of my throwing
higher than fifteen, these gentlemen friends of yours will not set upon
me, and murder me?"
"I answer for them," replied Sydney; "it is my honour that is
concerned, not theirs, and they are, in some measure, guests in my
house. You will be allowed to depart unmolested, and to-morrow I will
receive you in my rooms, and endeavour to come to a settlement with
you."
"I take your word," said the blackleg, and he raised the box from the
table, and rattled the dice again.
[Decoration]