Here he allowed for a moment or two of pause, and then continued: "You have doubtless observed that I am a foreigner. By way of explanation of this whim of mine, I may inform you that I am an East Indian of considerable importance in my own country. Being extravagantly wealthy and possessing a prodigious amount of unoccupied time, I have passed a great part of it in practising and playing the game to which I now invite you to participate; and by and by I became so inordinately fond of the pastime that I now find it impossible entirely to cease indulging in it. In this country I find every one either to be too busily engaged to take part in it, or too lacking in the patience to pursue it to a consummation. Learning that you are favored with ample leisure to pursue your every whim, I was encouraged to visit you, and to invite you to participate with me in my recreation. Since beholding you, I am consumed with such an appetite to test your skill that I am entirely willing to pay very handsomely for the privilege of indulging myself. See, I have brought with me the implements of my favorite pastime." [Illustration: _THE SOMEWHAT PECULIAR PASTIME OF OUR HERO'S SECOND CLIENT_] As he concluded, the stranger drew forth from a pocket in his coat a cylindrical box of ebony, carved into the most exquisite Oriental design. Unscrewing the lid of this receptacle, and tilting downward the box itself, he spilled out upon the table a set of ivory jack-straws of so marvellous a sort that Griscombe, in his wildest imaginings, could never have believed possible. Some of the straws were plain sticks of polished ivory: others were ornamented with heads or figures of wrought gold set with precious stones. Each of them was different from the other,--this a gryphon, that a serpent with distended crest, this a yawning tiger with diamond eyes, that an idol's head with a ruby tongue thrust from its gaping jaws. The stranger either did not observe or did not choose to remark upon the extreme surprise that possessed his attorney. Offering his opponent a golden hook with a pearl handle, he invited him to open the game, into which he himself entered with every appearance of the most entire satisfaction and enjoyment.