At any time Griscombe would have been no match for the extraordinary skill of his opponent; but, as it was, he was so torn and distracted by a multitude of emotions that he occasionally knew not what he was doing or what he beheld. His imagination framed the most ominous images of what was going forward in the bedroom beyond; and he lost again and again, while at times his hands trembled so that he could hardly place the pin in its respective hole. Now and then his hearing, strung to an unnatural intensity of key, seemed to detect smothered sounds from the adjoining room; and at such times the ivory tablet appeared to vanish from his sight, and the sweat started from every pore. But, in spite of all he suffered, he took care never to permit the young lady to perceive the agony under which he labored. The frequent mistakes of which he was guilty and the extreme inadequacy with which he played the game she attributed to mortification or to obstinacy. At last, at some more preposterous blunder, she could contain her patience no longer. "Why do you not place your pin in that hole, Mr. Griscombe?" she cried: "it will score you a point," And Griscombe, obeying, found the next instant that three of his pins stood in a line. At that moment a faint whistle sounded from without; and the old gentleman, as though in answer to a signal, declared his desire for the game to be entirely appeased. Withdrawing the pins from the tablet, he replaced them in their receptacle, replaced the tablet itself in the box and shut the lid with a snap. "Madame," he said, "I should have played with you instead of with our young gentleman here; for, indeed, he exhibits no great aptitude for the game." Then addressing Griscombe with a double meaning that set every nerve of his victim to quivering, "Nevertheless, young sir," he observed, "you have afforded me a great deal of entertainment, and I protest that you have entirely earned the fee which you have pocketed." Thereupon he incontinently departed, leaving the young lady and our hero to digest, each in his or her own way, the events that had just transpired. * * * * * So concludes this part of the narrative, with only this to add--that, had Griscombe had no one to think of but himself, he would at once have torn open the fatal travelling-case, and so have satisfied himself as to the nature of its contents. As it was, for the sake of his charge, who had in so short a time grown so infinitely dear to him, he would rather have had his right hand struck off than have betrayed his terrible apprehensions to her innocent ears. Accordingly, he still wrapped himself in his martyrdom of silence, though he would rather have sat facing a living adder than that ominous portmanteau upon the front seat of the post-chaise. HERE FOLLOWS THE FIFTH CHAPTER CHAPTER FIVE The CONCLUSION of the STORY of the _young_ LAWYER and his _Four_ CLIENTS.