"Gentlemen," said Sydney, calmly, "this man and I have been playing for something more than money, but it is simply a question of honour in which money is involved that I ask you to decide. Here are my dice, and here my throw. There are Mr. Pelham's dice, and there his throw. I call upon you to constitute yourselves a committee of honour, and examine the dice we each used in the last throw." They removed the dice, and discovered those used by Mr. Pelham to be loaded. It would have gone hard with him if Sydney had not interfered. "Hold!" he cried. "Fair play for rogue and gentleman! Release him, Fred." I released the blackleg, and he sat helpless in his chair, and glared at us. But he saw that his fate was in our hands, and he submitted. Sydney continued: "Mr. Pelham, these dice I have thrown with are fair dice, such as are used by gentlemen. My throw is fifteen. Take them, and throw against it. On my honour, if you beat my cast, I will endeavour to pay you what I owe you, despite the fact that the I O U's you hold of mine have been unfairly won." The blackleg took the box, and rattled the dice in it, gazing upon us with a ghastly smile, and then deliberately replaced the box on the table, mouth upwards. "What guarantee have I," he asked, "that in the event of my throwing higher than fifteen, these gentlemen friends of yours will not set upon me, and murder me?" "I answer for them," replied Sydney; "it is my honour that is concerned, not theirs, and they are, in some measure, guests in my house. You will be allowed to depart unmolested, and to-morrow I will receive you in my rooms, and endeavour to come to a settlement with you." "I take your word," said the blackleg, and he raised the box from the table, and rattled the dice again. [Decoration] CHAPTER XXVII. FREDERICK HOLDFAST'S STATEMENT (CONTINUED). During the interval that elapsed between the acts of raising the box from the table and throwing out the dice, my observation was drawn to Grace. She stood at a little distance from the men, bending forward, her eyes fixed upon the box, her lips parted, her hands clasped, and a bright colour in her cheeks. She held her breath suspended, as it were, as though her fate hung upon the issue of the throw. The dice rolled out of the box, and three single black dots lay exposed. Mr. Pelham had lost. He had thrown three aces. He flung the box from him with a shocking oath. It struck a man in the face, and he stepped towards Mr. Pelham, with the evident intention of striking him in return, when Sydney interposed. "It was an accident," he said. "It is for me alone to settle this affair." Grace did not move, but her eyes were now fixed upon Sydney. "I owe you nothing in the shape of money," said Sydney to Mr. Pelham. "I will trouble you for my bits of paper."