dame
d'Ivry, to Madame de Cruchecassee, and the foreign people (of whom there
are a host here of the worst kind, as usual), he graciously bestows on
me. Lord and Lady Dorking are here, with their meek little daughter,
Clara Pulleyn; and Barnes is coming. Uncle Hobson has returned to
Lombard Street to relieve guard. I think you will hear before very
long of Lady Clara Newcome. Grandmamma, who was to have presided at the
Congress of Baden, and still, you know, reigns over the house of Kew,
has been stopped at Kissingen with an attack of rheumatism; I pity poor
Aunt Julia, who can never leave her. Here are all our news. I declare I
have filled the whole page; men write closer than we do. I wear the dear
brooch you gave me, often and often; I think of you always, dear, kind
uncle, as your affectionate Ethel."

Besides roulette and trente-et-quarante, a number of amusing games are
played at Baden, which are not performed, so to speak, sur table. These
little diversions and jeux de societe can go on anywhere; in an alley in
the park; in a picnic to this old schloss, or that pretty hunting-lodge;
at a tea-table in a lodging-house or hotel; in a ball at the Redoute;
in the play-rooms behind the backs of the gamblers, whose eyes are only
cast upon rakes and rouleaux, and red and black; or on the broad walk in
front of the conversation rooms, where thousands of people are drinking
and chattering, lounging and smoking, whilst the Austrian brass band,
in the little music pavilion, plays the most delightful mazurkas and
waltzes. Here the widow plays her black suit and sets her bright eyes
against the rich bachelor, elderly or young as may be. Here the artful
practitioner, who has dealt in a thousand such games, engages the young
simpleton with more money than wit; and knowing his weakness and her
skill, we may safely take the odds, and back rouge et couleur to win.
Here mamma, not having money, perhaps, but metal more attractive, stakes
her virgin daughter against Count Fettacker's forests and meadows; or
Lord Lackland plays his coronet, of which the jewels have long since
been in pawn, against Miss Bags' three-per-cents. And so two or
three funny little games were going on at Baden amongst our immediate
acquaintance; besides that vulgar sport round the green table, at which
the mob, with whom we have little to do, was elbowing each other. A
hint of these domestic prolusions has been given to the reader in
the foregoing extract from