"I wish I could answer it," said Mowbray, thoughtfully.--"Confound the fellow--he is a cut above me in rank and in society too--belongs to the great clubs, and is in with the Superlatives and Inaccessibles, and all that sort of folk.--My training has been a peg lower--but, hang it, there are better dogs bred in the kennel than in the parlour. I am up to him, I think--at least I will soon know, Mick, whether I am or no, and that is always one comfort. Never mind--do you execute my commission, and take care you name no names--I must save my little Abigail's reputation." They parted, Meiklewham to execute his patron's commission--his patron to bring to the test those hopes, the uncertainty of which he could not disguise from his own sagacity. Trusting to the continuance of his run of luck, Mowbray resolved to bring affairs to a crisis that same evening. Every thing seemed in the outset to favour his purpose. They had dined together in Lord Etherington's apartments--his state of health interfered with the circulation of the bottle, and a drizzly autumnal evening rendered walking disagreeable, even had they gone no farther than the private stable where Lord Etherington's horses were kept, under the care of a groom of superior skill. Cards were naturally, almost necessarily, resorted to, as the only alternative for helping away the evening, and piquet was, as formerly, chosen for the game. Lord Etherington seemed at first indolently careless and indifferent about his play, suffering advantages to escape him, of which, in a more attentive state of mind, he could not have failed to avail himself. Mowbray upbraided him with his inattention, and proposed a deeper stake, in order to interest him in the game. The young nobleman complied; and in the course of a few hands, the gamesters became both deeply engaged in watching and profiting by the changes of fortune. These were so many, so varied, and so unexpected, that the very souls of the players seemed at length centred in the event of the struggle; and, by dint of doubling stakes, the accumulated sum of a thousand pounds and upwards, upon each side, came to be staked in the issue of the game.--So large a risk included all those funds which Mowbray commanded by his sister's kindness, and nearly all his previous winnings, so to him the alternative was victory or ruin. He could not hide his agitation, however desirous to do so. He drank wine to supply himself with courage--he drank water to cool his agitation; and at length bent himself to play with as much care and attention as he felt himself enabled to command.