I suppose?" said Davis, coolly.

"Hankes says something like two millions sterling. Pretty well for a
fellow that started without a sixpence."

"I wonder he could n't have done something better for Hankes than that
paltry place."

"So he might, and so he would; but you see, Simmy did n't like waiting.
He's a close fellow, and one can't get much out of him; but I can
perceive that he was anxious to get off the coach."

"Did n't like the pace,--didn't trust the tackle overmuch," said Grog,
carelessly.

"Something of that kind, I 've no doubt," rejoined Fisk.

"Have you any pull over this same Hankes, Tom?" said Grog,
confidentially.

"Well, I can't say I have. We were pals together long ago; we did a
little in the racing line,--in a very small way, of course. Then he used
to have a roulette-table at Doncaster; but somehow there was no 'go'
in him: he was over-cautious, and always saying, 'I 'd rather take to
"business;"' and as I hated business, we separated."

"It's odd enough that I can't remember the fellow. I thought I knew
every one that was on the 'lay' these five-and-thirty years."

"He wasn't Hankes at the time I speak of; he was a Jew at that period,
and went by the name of Simeon."

"Simeon, Simeon,--not the fellow that used to come down to Windsor, with
the Hexquite Habannar cigars?"

And Grog mimicked not alone the voice, but the face of the individual
alluded to, till Fisk burst into a roar of laughter.

"That's Simmy,--that's the man," cried Fisk, as he dried his eyes.

"Don't I know him! I had a class at that time,--young fellows in the
Blues. I used to give them lessons in billiards; and Simmy, as you call
him, discounted for the mess on a sliding scale,--ten per cent for the
Major, and sixty for cornets the first year they joined. He was good
fun, Simmy; he fancied he would have been a first-rate actor, and used
to give scenes out of 'Othello,' in Kean's manner: that was the only
soft thing about him, and many a fellow got a bill done by applauding
'Now is the winter of our discontent'!" And Grog gave a low growling
sort of a laugh at his reminiscences.

"You 'll see him to-morrow; he's to breakfast here," said Fisk, rather
amused at the prospect of a recognition between such men.

"He would never play 'Shylock,'" continued Grog, following out his
reminiscences, "though we all told him he 'd make a great hit in the
part. The Jew, you see,--the Jew couldn't stand _that_. And so Mr. Simmy