deed, I know he is, for I asked his groom if he
was going home, and he said no; and Lumpleg, you may be sure, and possibly
old Blossomnose, Slapp, and, very likely, young Pacey.'

'Are they chaps with any "go" in them?--shake their elbows, or anything of
that sort?' asked Sponge, working away as if he had the dice-box in his
hand.

'I hardly know,' replied Jack thoughtfully. 'I hardly know. Young Pacey, I
think, might be made summut on; but his uncle, Major Screw, looks uncommon
sharp after him, and he's a minor.'

'Would he _pay_?' asked Sponge, who, keeping as he said, 'no books,' was
not inclined to do business on 'tick.'

'Don't know,' replied Jack, squinting at half-cock; 'don't know--would
depend a good deal, I should say, upon how it was done. It's a deuced
unhandsome world this. If one wins a trifle of a youngster at cards, let it
be ever so openly done, it's sure to say one's cheated him, just because
one happens to be a little older, as if age had anything to do with making
the cards come right.'

'It's an ungenerous world,' observed Sponge, 'and it's no use being abused
for nothing. What sort of a genius is Pacey? Is he inclined to go the
pace?'

'Oh, quite,' replied Jack; 'his great desire is to be thought a
sportsman.'

'A sportsman or a sporting man?' asked Sponge.

'W-h-o-y! I should say p'raps a sportin' man more than the sportsman,'
replied Jack. 'He's a great lumberin' lad, buttons his great stomach into a
Newmarket cutaway, and carries a betting-book in his breast pocket.'

'Oh, he's a bettor, is he!' exclaimed Sponge, brightening up.

'He's a raw poult of a chap,' replied Jack; 'just ready for anything--in a
small way, at least--a chap that's always offering two to one in
half-crowns. He'll have money, though, and can't be far off age. His father
was a great spectacle-maker. You have heard of Pacey's spectacles?'

'Can't say as how I have,' replied Sponge, adding, 'they are more in your
line than mine.'

The further consideration of the youth was interrupted by the entrance of a
footman with hot water, who announced that dinner would be ready in half an
hour.

'Who's there coming?' asked Jack.

'Don't know 'xactly, sir,' replied the man; 'believe much the same party as
yesterday, with the addition of Mr. Pacey; Mr. Miller, of Newton; Mr. Fogo,
of Bellevue; Mr. Brown, of the Hill; and some others whose names I forget.'

'Is Major Screw coming?' asked Sponge.

'I rayther think not,