tion with a sound betwixt a
whine, a chuckle, and a groan; the first being designed to express his
pretended pity for the destined victim; the second his sympathy with his
patron's prospects of success; and the third being a whistle admonitory
of the dangerous courses through which his object was to be pursued.

Suliote as he boasted himself, Mowbray had, soon after this
conversation, some reason to admit that,

"When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war."

The light skirmishing betwixt the parties was ended, and the serious
battle commenced with some caution on either side; each perhaps,
desirous of being master of his opponent's system of tactics, before
exposing his own. Piquet, the most beautiful game at which a man can
make sacrifice of his fortune, was one with which Mowbray had, for his
misfortune perhaps, been accounted, from an early age, a great
proficient, and in which the Earl of Etherington, with less experience,
proved no novice. They now played for such stakes as Mowbray's state of
fortune rendered considerable to him, though his antagonist appeared not
to regard the amount. And they played with various success; for, though
Mowbray at times returned with a smile of confidence the enquiring looks
of his friend Meiklewham, there were other occasions on which he seemed
to evade them, as if his own had a sad confession to make in reply.

These alternations, though frequent, did not occupy, after all, many
days; for Mowbray, a friend of all hours, spent much of his time in Lord
Etherington's apartment, and these few days were days of battle. In the
meantime, as his lordship was now sufficiently recovered to join the
Party at Shaws-Castle, and Miss Mowbray's health being announced as
restored, that proposal was renewed, with the addition of a dramatic
entertainment, the nature of which we shall afterwards have occasion to
explain. Cards were anew issued to all those who had been formerly
included in the invitation, and of course to Mr. Touchwood, as formerly
a resident at the Well, and now in the neighbourhood; it being
previously agreed among the ladies, that a Nabob, though sometimes a
dingy or damaged commodity, was not to be rashly or unnecessarily
neglected. As to the parson, he had been asked, of course, as an old
acquaintance of the Mowbray house, not to be left out when the friends
of the family were invited on a great scale; but his habits were well
known, and it was no more expected tha