parvenu nobleman, Glendinning--rich, said
report, as Herodes Atticus--his riches, too, as easily acquired. I soon
found him of weak intellect, and, of course, marked him as a fitting
subject for my skill. I frequently engaged him in play, and contrived,
with the gambler's usual art, to let him win considerable sums, the more
effectually to entangle him in my snares. At length, my schemes being
ripe, I met him (with the full intention that this meeting should be
final and decisive) at the chambers of a fellow-commoner, (Mr. Preston,)
equally intimate with both, but who, to do him Justice, entertained
not even a remote suspicion of my design. To give to this a better
colouring, I had contrived to have assembled a party of some eight or
ten, and was solicitously careful that the introduction of cards should
appear accidental, and originate in the proposal of my contemplated
dupe himself. To be brief upon a vile topic, none of the low finesse was
omitted, so customary upon similar occasions that it is a just matter
for wonder how any are still found so besotted as to fall its victim.

We had protracted our sitting far into the night, and I had at length
effected the manoeuvre of getting Glendinning as my sole antagonist. The
game, too, was my favorite ecarte! The rest of the company, interested
in the extent of our play, had abandoned their own cards, and were
standing around us as spectators. The parvenu, who had been induced
by my artifices in the early part of the evening, to drink deeply, now
shuffled, dealt, or played, with a wild nervousness of manner for which
his intoxication, I thought, might partially, but could not altogether
account. In a very short period he had become my debtor to a large
amount, when, having taken a long draught of port, he did precisely
what I had been coolly anticipating--he proposed to double our already
extravagant stakes. With a well-feigned show of reluctance, and not
until after my repeated refusal had seduced him into some angry words
which gave a color of pique to my compliance, did I finally comply. The
result, of course, did but prove how entirely the prey was in my toils;
in less than an hour he had quadrupled his debt. For some time his
countenance had been losing the florid tinge lent it by the wine; but
now, to my astonishment, I perceived that it had grown to a pallor truly
fearful. I say to my astonishment. Glendinning had been represented to
my eager inquiries as immeasurably