and that he would join me in half an hour." I have said the drawingroom was empty; but out of the drawing-room a door opened into the pretty little conservatory, with its lamps and flowers; and out of the conservatory the cooling night-breeze tempted me through another open door into the silvery moonlight, shedding its soft rays over towering shrub and smoothly-shaven lawn. The flutter of a white dress, flitting slowly down the gravel walk, soon attracted my attention and my footsteps. Mamma was gone to bed with a headache-Papa was safe for at least half an hour over his letter. The field was all her own. Now or never was the time. Young, romantic, and flushed with wine, I was in for a moonlight stroll, alone with Kate Cotherstone.

It was truly a dangerous situation, and one from which few men on the sunny side of what people call the "prime of life" (an epoch always placed five years beyond the age of the individual making use of the term) would have escaped scathless; but I was not daring enough to be an utter fool: the instinctive caution of my nature had taken fright, and notwithstanding the claret, notwithstanding the fascinations of scenery, moonlight, flowers, perfume, and white muslin, the warnings of Jack Raffleton were never present so vividly to my mind as when, putting her arm within mine, on the plea of fatigue, Kate walked me quietly away in an opposite direction from the house, and half playfully, though with a mournful accent on her melodious tones, warbled forth a fragment of Tommy Moore's harmonious ballad, "Fly to the desert, fly with me.' Verily, Mr. Moore, you have a great deal to answer for; and hard must be the heart that can resist your thrilling numbers dropping from the lips that we love;" but that hardness of heart was mine, and when, after one turn round the garden, during which a stoic might have envied my callousness, we returned to the realities of lamplight and the drawing-room, I had a bitter sort of satisfaction in feeling that Kate could make nothing of me. I caught one glimpse of her countenance as we entered the conservatory, when she thought she was unobserved, and on those exquisite features I read an expression of contempt, hatred, and bitter spite, that made me shudder as I gazed: the curl on that beautiful lip would have made the fortune of a painter who had undertaken to depict Mephistophiles; and almost worse than all was the instantaneous change that came over her when she perceived she was watched. I could not have believed the "human face divine" was able so rapidly to alter its whole appearance, and wreathe itself so suddenly in smiles. Once or twice during our walk my heart had melted within me, and I had nearly fallen a victim to the spells of the enchantress; but I had gathered more than usual firmness from the wine I had drunk, and I strenuously resisted her blandishments, and the impulse of my own heart; but now the mask had fallen off, and I re-entered the drawingroom completely sobered by my conflicting feelings, and with every faculty sharpened by the contemplation of the danger I had escaped. Cotherstone's good-humoured matter-of-fact countenance, and carefully ironed white neckcloth recalled me more quickly than anything to the material world; and ere I had drunk my coffee, I was again lulled into security by the quiet ease with which he led the conversation, amusing and quaint as usual, as he discussed the every day topics of our world, and the coolness and sang froid with which Kate joined in our discourse, as though nothing had happened, and the cherished schemes of the last

fortnight had not melted away like an air-bubble during that fatal evening. "Kate, let us have a little music ;" and she glided away to the piano-forte with a readiness and good-humour that was perfectly enchanting.

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I am very susceptible to the influence of music and in my then excited state, I felt half-maddened by the silver tones of that voice which I knew not yet whether I most loved or hated, and the consummate skill with which she modulated the tones of her instrument, now dreamy and soothing as the evening breeze, now startling and inspiriting as the trumpet-blast, roused my feelings to the uttermost, and I longed for some vent to the excitement that was boiling within. The tempter was close at my elbow. Nogo, what do you say to a pool at écarté, you, and I, and Kate? or if she will go on playing to us, we can have our quiet" parti," and listen to her performance the while." There is an old Latin adage, often quoted, about which a good deal of money has been lost, as it is not to be found in any author of earlier or later date, but of the truth of which, nevertheless, there can be little doubtand thus runs the aphorism, "Quod Deus vult perdere prius dementat." And certainly, if Kate had set her heart upon my ruin, she had adopted the preparatory step of bidding me take leave of my senses, or I should never have dreamt of easing my mind by contending single-handed in any game of skill with my accomplished host.

The table was wheeled down within a yard or two of the piano-forte, the wax-lights on which threw a strong glare upon my "hand," as I took my seat in obedience to Cotherstone's courteous gesture, with my back to Kate, who, as usual, expressed her interest in my success. Shuffling the cards with a careless remark about "moderate stakes," mine adversary drew his chair to the opposite side of the table, and we entered upon the tug of war to the accompaniment of a rare and beautiful symphony, exquisitely performed by our fair musician; and the ever-varying strains of which, now fading with a "dying fall" into almost imperceptible melody, now returning in fuller tones, and thrilling like some well-remembered voice upon the ear, required indeed the skill of a thorough and accomplished musician. I am thus particular in specifying the exact position of the parties and the circumstantial details of that memorable evening, as it was on this occasion I first discovered the extent of dishonesty and dishonour practised by a man holding by such means the position of a gentleman, and to whose course of fraud and swindling I had voluntarily exposed myself.

The game progressed and the stakes increased. Blind, reckless, and infatuated, for some time I rushed wildly into the excitement of the hour. Stakes were doubled and trebled with a carelessness of consequences that was perfectly frightful. Nothing could exceed the quiet courtesy of mine host, except, perhaps, the readiness which he showed in complying with my insane and reiterated proposals for higher stakes-always higher stakes-and still fortune went against me, and the anticipated run of success-the change of luckthat will-o'-the-wisp " ever present to the gamester's mental visionstill fleeted on before and still eluded my disappointed grasp. At length came a reaction. The amount of my losses was dreadful to contemplate, and the effect upon my previous state of excitement was sedative in proportion to the magnitude of my difficulties: the continued run of

"

ill-luck that had dogged me ever since I sat down to play was startling even to an inexperienced practitioner like myself; I never had a chance. If I held a bad hand Cotherstone would not allow me to propose-if a good one, he seemed to possess a magical insight into the value of every one of my court cards; and I derived the least benefit possible from the very smiles of Fortune which she was so niggard in bestowing. And ever, as my strategy was foiled, my cards out-trumped, and my tricks taken, would the pealing notes of that glorious symphony ring upon mine car, like the sweet yet mocking laugh of some alluring spirit exulting over the ruin to which it beckoned. I know not what may be the effect of wine combined with intense excitement upon the nerves of others; but with me, after a certain point, it has ever had a positively sobering tendency. There is a period at which, after the exhaustion of the spirits by their previous hilarity, the mind, fatigued and overstrung, sinks into the opposite extreme: if the excitement be still kept up, then, as in the case of the habitual drunkard, a state of helpless despondency will ensue; and such a course, if persevered in, will inevitably lead to that gloomiest of all the phases of insanity"delirium tremens." But this is only the doom of those who, day after day, and month after month, devote themselves to the pernicious use of alcohol; and such victims are, fortunately, becoming more and more rare. To return to my own sensations: On the evening in question, the excitement I had gone through, both as to my better and worse feelings, had completely counteracted the effect of those potations which had at first enhanced its power; and by the time Cotherstone and I had concluded our third rubber, my brain was sobered, my faculties sharpened, and my nerves braced to an extent which enabled me to discover the ingenious and well-planned fraud of which I was the victim. It flashed upon me suddenly that Kate's symphony was ever loudest when my hand was most miserably poor; and upon such occasions it invariably happened that her father denied me the privilege of improving my position by what is called " proposing"-a course which, as I was not disposed to pursue it with regard to his daughter, he took care I should derive no benefit from in my struggle with himself. I then reflected that Kate, from her position behind me, and that of her wax candles on the pianoforte, could see distinctly into my hand, and that in all probability so accomplished a young lady was as good a judge of écarté as she was of whist. No sooner did this suspicion cross my mind, than, disregarding the playing of my cards, I devoted myself entirely to watching the proceedings of my antagonist and his accomplice. Ere long I had abundant proof to satisfy my own mind as to the disadvantages under which I had that evening been fleeced of a small fortune. I remarked that Cotherstone never once looked in the direction of, or exchanged a single glance with, his daughter. He had a fine ear, and doubtless that was quite sufficient to guide him in his movements. Cnce I shifted my chair in such a manner that my cards were entirely hid from Miss Cotherstone's view, and on that occasion the liquid treble and resounding bass were steady and unvaried as a funeral march: but on a fresh game commencing, and my continuing in the same cautious position, the young lady left her seat for the ostensible purpose of fetching some more music, and as she passed behind me, deliberately and searchingly she scanned the cards in my hand, which for once were most favour

able. Need I add, that when she resumed her place at the pianoforte, the waltz of Weber, which she commenced with such unrivalled skill, died away in its second bar into a faint and fitful melody like the music of a dream? I was now convinced: but how to proceed? Determined not to sit still and be robbed with my eyes open, I was yet extremely averse, more particularly in the presence of a woman, to what is called a row ;" and my uncertainty how to act, and the difficulty-I had almost said " delicacy"-of my position, made me so absent and "distrait," that it was impossible Cotherstone should fail to remark the alteration and embarrassment of my manner.

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Nogo," said he, in his usual frank, good-humoured manner, “you are bored with this; let us leave off. And Kate!" added the paternal hypocrite, without a blush on his open countenance, "play us something lively, instead of that confounded thing you have been hammering at all night.' My half-inaudible and absent answer was not remarked; for Kate, dashing off a brilliant conclusion, shut the piano-forte, and, lighting a candle, retired for the night, leaving me with her father, in a state of painful indecision as to how I should act.

"Well, Nogo," said he, as soon as the door closed upon her retreating form, "I wish we had not played quite so high. I see you lose more than eighteen hundred; but of course, my dear fellow, you need not trouble yourself about an immediate payment, if it is any inconvenience to you. I only play, as you know, for amusement; and, therefore, whether you pay me now or two months hence little matters, or if you like to give me a bill for the amount"

"Mr. Cotherstone," I replied, in a voice almost inarticulate with a mixed feeling of anger, annoyance, and a certain degree of apprehension for the probable consequences of such a demonstration, whilst my whole frame shook and my lips trembled with the violence of my agitation, "I distinctly refuse to pay you one farthing of the money I have lost to-night, and out of which I have been swindled-yes, sir, most disgracefully swindled!-by an ingenious combination between your daughter and yourself."

I saw him look up for an instant with a guilty, startled expression, as I delivered this home-thrust, that convinced me more and more of the truth of my suspicions. Ilis cheek grew perfectly livid, and his nostril dilated, with an expression that changed his whole countenance, and which even then brought forcibly to my recollection the glance his daughter threw at me that evening, in the conservatory. There was the same fiendish expression of malice and revenge disfiguring the shapely feature; the same scornful sneer on the well-cut lip, that betokened pain and disappointment, curbed and kept down by the strong will within. There was, if I may so call it, a family likeness of evil between father and daughter; nor did the well-schooled man of the world more readily recover his equanimity and usual bearing than she, that heartless girl, had previously done under parallel circumstances, when her schemes of enrichment and aggrandisement were foiled by the clearsightedness of her victim. But Mr. Cotherstone had only one course to pursue; and Bayard might have taken a lesson in chivalry from the temperate bearing, the firm manner, and high tone adopted by this most consummate of knaves.

"I am at a loss to account for your extraordinary behaviour, Mr.

Nogo," was his quiet and gentlemanlike reply. "I should be sorry to believe that I had sat down to play with a gentleman in a state of intoxication--the only excuse I can think of for your conduct. You will allow me to ring for your carriage; and I trust that to-morrow you will see the propriety of making an ample apology. In justice to myself, however, I must insist upon the trifling sum we have been discussing being immediately paid over; and I am sure in your cooler moments you will see the absolute necessity of such a proceeding." And with these words, he bowed me out in a state of complete distraction, staggered by his coolness, alarmed at what I had entailed upon myself, and with no very clear perception, except that advice and assistance must immediately be sought from Jack Raffleton, and from him alone.

(To be continued).

"SUMMERING THE HUNTER."

A LA NIMROD.

ENGRAVED BY E. HACKER, FROM A PAINTING BY E. CORBET.

"Indeed we think it would be useless to expect horses to live with hounds in such a country as Leicestershire, unless they were in condition to enable them to contend for a Plate."-THE CHASE.

Poor old Nimrod! If he had a hobby and did a service to the State it was with the condition of hunters. How many so owe their pleasures to him; how many a horse's life has he so saved; and how triumphantly he thus carried out real practicable benefit, to the discomfiture of the maudlin, half-awake, humanity-mongers!

In years gone by, what a sensation this theme continued to make in the pages of the Sporting Magazine! Like most propositions, however good, it met with considerable opposition at starting. "Vox Humanitatis," "A bit of a Jockey," and " John Lawrence"-three respectable old gentlemen-rolled into one, instanter took up the cudgels against the innovation; and on they went with "a few words ," "another line from," and sundry such attacks and replies for many a number and many a volume. But still the fight was all one way, If a man wanted to go, he must have something ready to go If he really wished to ride up to hounds, he bethought himself of a proper foundation to build his hopes on; or, if he didn't, why the less said about the matter the better.

more,

on.

On the three great points urged-economy, humanity, and general advantage-Nimrod had and has all along the best of it. John Lawrence and Co. pictured the poor horse confined in the close house, instead of enjoying with the lambs and foals his summer's run in the open fields! Was this a proper or grateful return for his noble energy