uppose it is that I am not strong."

"Wretchedly weak, I should say," rejoined Coleman; "it struck me that
you were so just now, when you chucked Lawless out of the window like a
cat."

"Be quiet, Freddy," said Cumberland, reprovingly.

"Nay, don't stop him," said Oaklands; "I delight in a joke beyond
measure, when I have not the trouble of making it myself. But about this
Mr. Lawless, I am exceedingly sorry that I handled him so roughly; would
you mind going to tell him so, Mr. Cumberland, and explaining that I did
not mean anything offensive by my manner?"

"Exactly, I'll make him understand the whole affair, and bring him down
with me in five minutes," said Cumberland, leaving the room as he spoke.

"What makes Cumberland so good-natured and amiable to-night?" whispered
I to Coleman.

"Can't you tell?" was the reply. "Don't you see that Oaklands is a
regular top-sawyer, a fish worth catching; and that by doing this,
Cumberland places him under an obligation at first starting? Not a bad
move to begin with, eh? Besides, if a regular quarrel between Lawless
and Oaklands were to ensue, Cumberland would have to take one side or
the other; and it would not exactly suit him to break with Lawless, he
knows too much about him; besides," added he, sinking his voice, "he
owes him money, more than I should like to owe anybody a precious deal,
I can tell you. Now, do you _twig_?"

"Yes," said I, "I comprehend the matter more clearly, if that is what
you mean by _twigging_; but how shocking ~58~~it all is! why, Cumberland
is quite a swindler--gambling, borrowing money he can't pay, and----"

"Hush!" interrupted Coleman, "here they come."

Coleman was not mistaken: Cumberland had been successful in his embassy,
and now entered the room, accompanied by Lawless, who looked rather
crestfallen, somewhat angry, and particularly embarrassed and
uncomfortable, which, as Coleman whispered to me, was not to be wondered
at, considering how thoroughly he had been _put out_ just before.,
Oaklands, however, appeared to see nothing of all this; but, rising from
his seat as they entered, he approached Lawless, saying:--

"This has been a foolish piece of business, Mr. Lawless; I freely own
that I am thoroughly ashamed of the part I have taken in it, and I can
only apologise for the intemperate manner in which I behaved".

The frank courtesy with which he said this was so irresistible, that
Lawless was completely overcome, and, probabl