The Mark Of Cain

he gods who

he Greek."-Lays

temperature was uncomfortably high. Dinner was over, and the guests, broken up into little groups, were chattering noisily.

t of Culture. Were it not for the excuse of "joining the ladies," dinner-parties (Like the congregations in Heaven,

will the fel

uty dinner" he had been giving-almost everything Maitland did was done from a sense of duty-yet he scarcely appeared to be reaping the reward of an approving conscience. His acquaintances, laughing and gossipping round the half-empty wine-glasses, the olives, the sc

ting down beside him, "what have

have been reflecting on the choice of a life, and trying to

and father-confessors, old man. And how long do you mean to rem

aquiline commanding nose, keen, merry blue eyes, and a short, fair beard. He had taken a medical as well as other degrees at the University; he had studied at Vienna and Paris; he was even what Captain Costigan styles "a scoientific cyarkter." He had written learnedly in various Proceedings of erudite so

house getting on

s nothing but coffee to drink, and little but tracts to read. I thought if I gave them sound beer, and looked in among them now and then of an evening, I might help to civilize them a bit, like that fellow who kept the Thieves' Club in the East En

I've heard of her. She is

anthropist," answered Ma

oo, I have

iently handsome,' as

. Why don't you ask her to marry you? Pretty and

tland replied testily, and turning red in his peculia

without encumbrances, as the advertisements say, no relations to worry you, with plenty of mon

acquainted all these years with my moral and physical constitution (wh

side of the water, among the hardy patients of Mundy & Barton,

o stay there with

weights fall on them, or getting jammed between barges, or kicking each other into most interesting jellies. Then the foreign sailors are handy with their

an, standing at some distance, the centre

He was writing about the Coolie Labor Question and the E

outh Seas," answered the other, "and he ought to know s

e seems to have travelled a good deal: perhaps h

ou know what kind of man y

ing kind of gent, so to speak," said

versity; you don't know why he left the Ninety-second; you don't know, and no one does,

hing. As to the row with the Frenchman at Cairo, he told me himself. He said

that view of it at

Why, he has been a sailor before the mast, he says, by way of adventure, and he is full of good stories. I rather like him, and

xford," Barton was saying, when the subject of their conversat

in his shirt-front, and his coat was cut after the manner of the contemporary reveller. His chin was clean shaven, and his face, though a good deal worn, was ripe, smooth, shining with good cheer, and of a purply bronze hue, from exposure to hot suns and familiarity with the beverages of many peoples. His full red lips, with their humorous corners, were sh

im," thought Maitland gratefully. "Now

hed him. To stand up would show, he thought, that he w

and," said the senior,

host, doing his best to play h

Cockpit, and three or four of your young friends here are anxious to come with me, and see how we keep it up

"un petit bac de santé; and these boys tell me they

at his Aunt's at Christmas, and who now observed with delight that everyone w

Johnson, and looking rather at the younger men than at

k hands wit

p; and while Maitland, half-asleep, was being whirled to his rooms in Bloomsbury in a ha

e men who accompanied him. "The Cockpit, where I am taking you

y at a back door in a lane, and to be shown, after investigating through a loopholed wicket, into a narrow staircase, which, again, should open on halls of light, full of blazing wax candles and magnificent lacqueys, while a small mysterious man would point out the secret hiding-room, and the passages leading on to the roof or into the next house, in case of a raid by the police. Such was the old

said, genially. "It's a livelier place, in the small

A long green baize-covered table, of very light wood, ran down the centre of the room, while refreshments stood on smaller tables, and a servant out of livery sat, half-asleep, behind a great desk in the remotest corner. There were several empty chairs round the green baize-covered table, at which some twenty men were sitting, with money before them; while one, in the middle, dealt out the cards on a broad

nker, adding, as he looked at his hand, "J'en

derstand?" said Cranley

aid the lad, s

about it. Perhaps, after you know all about it, you'll think it wiser not to play at all At least, yo

cheated at, then-I mean, when

e are about a dozen ways

nued his instructions in a low voice, and from a distance whence the play could

nd all the fellows on that side stand by his luck. Then he deals two to a chappie on his right, and all the punters on the right, back that sportsman. And he deals two cards to himself. The game is to get as near nine as possible, ten, and court cards, not counting at all. If the Banker has eight or nine, he does not offer cards; if he has less

eating can come in," said

a big German; he wore spectacles, like all Germans, and he seldom gave the players anything better than three court cards when he dealt One evening he was in awful luck, when he happened to go for his cigar-case, which he had left in the hall in his great-coat pocket. He laid down his spectacles on

e of the owner

aw the man wearing them, and didn't

anley c

: lost once, won twice; then he offered cards. The man who was playing nodded, to show he would take one, and the Frenchman laid down an eight of clubs, a greasy, dirty old rag, with théatre fran?ais de nice stamped on it in big letters. It was his ticket of readmission at the theatre that they gave him when he went out, and it had

pated-looking waiter of the card-room sat, and provided themselves with black and

he table the banker was

he, "décavé. Good-nigh

The punters had been winning all night

ne else will open a bank, I'll risk a couple of h

d laid the smooth silver cigarette-ca

ch the others gathered in, or pushed three or four bank-notes with his little rake in the direction of a more ventures

looking on. He was a gaudy youth with a diamond stud, rich, and not fond of losing. He staked five pounds

our écrire, as the stage directions say; but I don't advise you to plunge. You've los

currency of considerable value. The parallel horizontal wrinkles of the gambler were just sketched on his smooth girlish brow as he returned with his

nly to Cranley, "may I help my

anley saw him pick up the silver cigarette-cas

me back my cigarette-case, ple

again,

examining it closely. "There is

r the thing, and pausing before he dealt. "The case was given me by t

se seemed to bring yo

ck look at him, as rapid and timid

e it back, pl

n playing while I rub up my Arabic, and try to read this ine

"All right," he said, "as yo

n's face brightened up. His paper

his fetich. Waiter, a small brandy-and-soda! Confound

he dealt. He went on dealing, and his luck altered again. The rake was stretched out over both halves of the long table; the gold and notes and counters, w

d Cranley for all the money in the bank. The

cards, when his hands were suddenly grasped as in two vices, and cramped t

en he sat perfectly still. His face, which he turned over his sho

rled. "What trick

k, Barton?" c

their seats; while others, pressing round Barton, looked o

f the club. If I do not convince them that Mr. Cranley has been cheating, I am

e making such a fuss about," said Martin, from the g

o release his hands. "Will you kindly take up some of the cards and deal them slowly, to right and

lence while Martin

every pip on the ca

ng fortune, you could make use of what you see. At the

s I to know that the infernal fool of a waiter would sp

for himself is a perfect mirror. I tried to warn you-for I did not want a row-when I said the case 'seemed to bring you luck.' But you would not be warned; and when the

s, as they had seen the Banker

se," they said.

d, with livid circles round the wrists. The man's face was deadly pale, and wet with perspiration. He put out a trembling hand to

or. When he had got outside, he leaned against the wall, like a drunken man, and then shambled across the landing into a reading-room. It was empt

Confound it! Why haven't I the nerve for my character

nd beaten. Mechanically he began to move the hand that hung over the arm of his low chair, and it encountered a newspaper which had fallen on the floor. He lifted it automati

gain as he read a passage steadily through more than twice or thrice. When

is daughter are to come in for the money and the mines! They'll be clever t

thought, his brows an

ance to star in this game of existence. I've lost all my own social Lives: one in that business at Oxford, one in the row

paying for a new

iscussing him, slunk down-stairs, took his hat and greatcoat, and swaggered past the porter. Mechanically he felt in h

e would never light a

on the table of the card-room, where Barton had laid it

ad enjoyed a classical education), a