wn
possession; we shall see. Meanwhile, is there--no chance of a rubber
to-night?"

"None; unless you will let Brown and Smith play upon tick."

"Pooh! but there's Robinson, he has an aunt he can borrow from?"

"Robinson! spitting blood, with an attack of delirium tremens! You have
done for him."

"'Can sorrow from the goblet flow?"' said Losely. "Well, I suppose it
can--when a man has no coats to his stomach; but you and I, Dolly Poole,
have stomachs thick as peajackets, and proof as gutta-percha."

Poole forced a ghastly smile, while Losely, gayly springing up, swept
his share of booty into his pockets, slapped his comrade on the back,
and said, "Then, if the mountain will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet must
go to the mountain! Hang whist, and up with rouge-et-noir! I have an
infallible method of winning; only it requires capital. You will club
your cash with mine, and I 'll play for both. Sup here to night, and
we'll go to the Hell afterwards."

Samuel Dolly had the most perfect confidence in his friend's science
in the art of gambling, and he did not, therefore, dissent from the
proposal made. Jasper gave a fresh touch to his toilet, and stepped
into his cabriolet. Poole cast on him a look of envy, and crawled to his
lodging,--too ill for his desk, and with a strong desire to take to his
bed.

CHAPTER X.

"Is there a heart that never loved,
Nor felt soft woman's sigh?"

If there be such a heart, it is not in the breast of a pocket-
cannibal. Your true man-eater is usually of an amorous temperament:
he can be indeed sufficiently fond of a lady to eat her up. Mr.
Losely makes the acquaintance of a widow. For further particulars
inquire within.

The dignified serenity of Gloucester Place, Portman Square, is agitated
by the intrusion of a new inhabitant. A house in that favoured locality,
which had for several months maintained "the solemn stillness and the
dread repose" which appertain to dwellings that are to be let upon
lease, unfurnished, suddenly started into that exuberant and aggressive
life which irritates the nerves of its peaceful neighbours. The bills
have been removed from the windows; the walls have been cleaned down and
pointed; the street-door repainted a lively green; workmen have gone
in and out. The observant ladies (single ones) in the house opposite,
discover, by the help of a telescope, that the drawing-rooms have been
new papered, canary-coloured