d the money which his wife
allowed him.

At last his habits lost him his place under government.

He had borrowed money from every man in the office, and was in the habit
of drinking brandy and soda during hours, and of smoking upon the big
leather sofa until the janitor, at dark, shook him to his senses. After
this he spent all his time at the Turf and Jockey, for he still kept his
name at this unsavory institution; he led much the same life there as at
the government office, save that the club servants let him sleep on the
sofa until morning if he chose, and he earned no pay while he slumbered.
As a counterbalance, the brandy and soda was cheaper and better than
that which had been sent to him from the public house opposite to the
Stamp and Sealing Wax, and he had all his time to devote to his system,
while in the office he had occasionally a little writing to do.

Mrs. Carey had been living in her husband's lodging for three weeks
after her interview with the King, in the night before Aldershot. All
the world was wild over the attempted revolution, the trial of the state
prisoners and the escape of the King to France--all the world but Oswald
Carey, who gave no thought to what passed on around him; he made deep
calculations upon his "system" at the club between his draughts of "B.
and S.," and played with other wrecked gamesters, until he lost his
ready money, for his "system" worked to a charm conversely--his
opponents infallibly won. Early in the morning he would stumble home to
his lodgings cursing his luck.

On the morning of his wife's departure to join the King in France, she
had informed him, as he sat at the breakfast-table, holding his aching
head in one hand, that she was going to Paris to buy some new gowns, and
that she would not be back for some time, but that during her absence
her bankers would pay him $100 every week. He begged for more money, but
his request was refused, and his wife coldly shook hands with him, and
retired to her room to superintend her maid's packing. Oswald believed
her story, and, finding that he could eat no breakfast, put on his top
coat and crawled to the Turf and Jockey for a "pick-me-up." Fortified by
this, he made up his mind that, since his "system" had failed because he
had had always too small a capital to work with, he would allow his
allowance to roll up at the bank for three weeks before he began play
again.

Meanwhile he resolved to keep sober, and he spent his