rsaal;
though I bade you avoid play, I did not say shun blacklegs.' It is
pretty much like desiring a man not to take the yellow fever, but to be
sure to pass an autumn on the coast of Africa!

Such, then, was the character of him who would once have rejected with
horror the acquaintance of one like himself. A sleeping partner in
swindling, he received his share of the profits, although his name did
not appear in the firm. His former acquaintances continued to know him,
his family connections were large and influential, and though some
may have divined his practices, he was one of those men that are never
'cut.' Some pitied him; some affected to disbelieve all the stories
against him; some told tales of his generosity and kindness, but
scarcely any one condemned him--'Ainsi va le monde?'

Once more I ask forgiveness, if I have been too prolix in all this;
rather would I have you linger in pleasanter scenes, and with better
company, but--there must always be a 'but'--he is only a sorry pilot
who would content himself with describing the scenery of the coast,
expatiating on the beauty of the valleys and the boldness of the
headlands, while he let the vessel take her course among reefs and
rocks, and risk a shipwreck while he amused the passengers. Adieu, then,
to Spas and their visitors! The sick are seldom the pleasantest company;
the healthy at such places are rarely the safest.

'You are going, Mr. O'Leary?' said a voice from a window opposite the
hotel, as my luggage was lifted into a _fiacre_, I looked up. It was the
youth who had lost so deeply at the Cursaal.

'Only to Ooblentz, for a few days,' said I; 'I am weary of gaiety and
fine people. I wish for quiet just now.'

'I would that I had gone some weeks ago,' exclaimed he, with a sigh.
'May I walk with you as far as the river?'

I assented with pleasure, and in a moment after he was by my side.

'I trust,' said I, when we had walked together some time--'I trust you
have not been to the Cursaal again?'

'Never since I met you; that night was the last I ever passed there!'
He paused for some minutes, and then added, 'You are not acquainted with
either of the gentlemen in whose company we supped--I think you told me
so on the way home?'

'No, they were both strangers to me; it was a chance rencontre, and in
the few weeks I passed at Wiesbaden I learned enough not to pursue the
acquaintance further. Indeed, to do them justice, they seemed as well
disposed