ow
became considerable, and it was apparent, that the whole had been a
pre-concerted scheme. Several persons, leaping upon the table,
attempted to extinguish the great lustre of the salon, in which bold
attempt, they were most spiritedly resisted by some of the other players
and the gens-d'arme, who had by this time arrived in force. The riot
was quelled after a prolonged and desperate resistance, and the rioters,
with the exception of two, were captured, and conveyed to prison, where
they await the result of a judicial investigation--of which we shall not
fail to lay the particulars before our readers.

"Since our going to press, we have learned that one of the ringleaders in
this vile scheme is a noted English escroc--a swindler, who was already
arrest at C____ for travelling with a false passport; but who contrives,
by some collusion with another of the gang, to evade the local
authorities. If this be the case, we trust he will speedily be detected
and brought to punishment."

Whatever amusement I had found in reading the commencing portion of this
ridiculous misstatement, the allusion in the latter part by no means
afforded me equal pleasure; and I saw, in one rapid glance, how much
annoyance, and how many delays and impediments--a charge even of this
ridiculous nature, might give rise to in my present circumstances. My
passport, however, will settle all--thought I--as I thrust my hand
towards my pocket, in which I had placed it along with some letters.

Guess my misery, to discover that the whole of the pocket had been cut
away, probably in the hope of obtaining the billets de banque I had won
at play, but which I had changed from that pocket to a breast one on
leaving the table. This at once led me to suspect that there might be
some truth in the suspicion of the newspaper writer of a pre-concerted
scheme, and at once explained to me what had much puzzled me before--the
extreme rapidity with which the elements of discord were propagated, for
the whole affair was the work of a few seconds. While I continued to
meditate on these matters, the waiter entered with a small note in an
envelope, which a commissionaire had just left at the hotel for me, and
went away, saying there was no answer. I opened it hastily, and read:--

"Dear H.--The confounded affair of last night has induced me to
leave this for a few days; besides that I have obtained a most
excellent reason for absenting myself in the