to the arms of Morpheus.

York sank down upon a seat, stretched his arms over the table, buried
his head between them, and in an extremely short space of time, _Old
Tom_ gave notice that he too was fast acting as an opiate upon _canny_
Yorkshire.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VII.

A LITTLE LITERARY CONVERSATION.

Quietness was again restored. A group had gathered around the fire, to
amuse themselves with a little chat. Among which was an attorney's
clerk out of place, in the last stage of sottishness and vagrancy; a
drunken mechanic; and a kind of decent itinerant, very pedagogue-like,
an inveterate reader of the _Twopenny Police Dispatch_ (the only paper
the landlord took in), and a stout advocate of the Holy mother church
and Daniel O'Connell, the father of the people, as he styled him. A
few ungentlemanly words were exchanged between this small politician
and a staunch supporter of the English Church; several topics were
descanted upon, among which was the character of Wellington and his
campaigns. A short but lively description was given of the Battle of
Vittoria, by an old soldier in a labourer's dress.

Wellington, it was said, was not the man he was, or else the papers
did not speak the truth; and, certainly, a few glaring facts were
produced that they could, at least at times, make a mistake. This
brought on a discussion about the management of newspapers.

One talkative fellow maintained that one newspaper was but merely a
copy of another; but this assertion was clearly set aside, and the
duties of an Editor and Reporter nicely discriminated, by a very
equivocal sort of a _gemman_, in a great coat, whom we strongly
suspected was somewhat related to the Swell Mob.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VIII.

THE GAMING TABLE.

The cards had been in constant motion,--either two or three, or more,
engaged with them during the whole of the evening. The card party was
now augmented to about sixteen or eighteen, all players and betters,
not one of whom could boast of such a thing as a shirt, save the
landlord, who at this moment presided as director in chief of the
ceremonies, every deference being paid to the lord of the house, as
"Master this," and "Master that," and "Master the other."

Twopence to fourpence was the sum which each put down at every stake,
and it was astonishing to observe how rapidly the coins were
transported from one pocket to another.

"D---- it," says a match-seller, "there go