r banged, and there beheld him. To ring and summon the guard was the
quick impulse of his ready wit; but when the bell-rope came down as
he pulled it, the whole truth flashed across him that all had been
concerted and plotted carefully.

"Never mind your pistols. I'm armed too," said Davis, coolly. "If it was
your life I wanted, I could have taken it easily enough at any minute
during the last ten or twelve."

"What do you mean, then, sir, by this violence? By what right do you
dare to enter here?" cried Dunn, passionately.

"There has been no great violence up to this," said Davis, with a grin.
"As to my right to be here, we'll talk about that presently. You know
_me_, I believe?"

"I want to know why you are here," cried Dunn, again.

"And so you shall; but, first of all, no treachery. Deal fairly, and a
very few minutes will settle all business between us."

"There is no business to be settled between us," said Dunn, haughtily,
"except the insolence of your intrusion here, and for that you shall pay
dearly."

"Don't try bluster with me, man," said Grog, contemptuously. "If you
just stood as high in integrity as I know you to stand low in knavery,
it would n't serve you. I've braved pluckier fellows than ever you
were."

With a sudden jerk Dunn let down the window; but Grog's iron grip held
him down in his place, as he said sternly, "I 'll not stand nonsense.
I have come here for a purpose, and I 'll not leave it till it's
accomplished. You know _me_."

"I do know you," said Dunn, with an insolent irony.

"And I know _you_. Hankes--Simmy Hankes--has told me a thing or two; but
the world will soon be as wise as either of us."

Dunn's face became deadly pale, and, in a voice broken And faint, he
said, "What do you mean? What has Hankes said?"

"All,--everything. Why, bless your heart, man, it was no secret to me
that you were cheating, the only mystery was _how_ you did the trick;
now Hankes has shown me that. I know it all now. You had n't so many
trumps in your hand, but you played them twice over,--that was the
way you won the game. But that's no affair of mine. 'Rook' them all
round,--only don't 'try it on' with Kit Davis! What brought me here is
this: _my_ daughter is married to Annesley Beecher that was, the now
Viscount Lackington; there's another fellow about to contest the title
and the estates. _You_ know all about his claim and his chances, and you
can, they tell me, make it all 'snag' to eithe