'You may, and you shall hear--in fact, I'll tell you the whole thing. It was at Gray's Club, in Pall Mall. The whist party were old Jermyn, Carter, Vanbrugh, and Wylder. Clinton and I were at piquet, and were disturbed by a precious row the old boys kicked up. Jermyn and Carter were charging Mark Wylder, in so many words, with not playing fairly--there was an ace of hearts on the table played by him, and before three minutes they brought it home--and in fact it was quite clear that poor dear Mark had helped himself to it in quite an irregular way.' 'Oh, dear, Captain Lake, oh, dear, how shocking--how inexpressibly shocking! Is not it _melancholy_?' said Larkin, in his finest and most pathetic horror. 'Yes; but don't cry till I've done,' said Lake, tranquilly. 'Mark tried to bully, but the cool old heads were too much for him, and he threw himself at last entirely on our mercy--and very abject he became, poor thing.' 'How well the mountains look! I am afraid we shall have rain to-morrow.' Larkin uttered a short groan. 'So they sent him into the small card-room, next that we were playing in. I think we were about the last in the club--it was past three o'clock--and so the old boys deliberated on their sentence. To bring the matter before the committee were utter ruin to Mark, and they let him off, on these conditions--he was to retire forthwith from the club; he was never to play any game of cards again; and, lastly, he was never more to address any one of the gentlemen who were present at his detection. Poor dear devil!--how he did jump at the conditions;--and provided they were each and all strictly observed, it was intimated that the occurrence should be kept secret. Well, you know, that was letting poor old Mark off in a coach; and I do assure you, though we had never liked one another, I really was very glad they did not move his expulsion--which would have involved his quitting the service--and I positively don't know how he could have lived if that had occurred.' 'I do solemnly assure you, Captain Lake, what you have told me has beyond expression amazed, and I will say, horrified me,' said the attorney, with a slow and melancholy vehemence. 'Better men might have suspected something of it--I do solemnly pledge my honour that nothing of the kind so much as crossed my mind--not naturally suspicious, I believe, but all the more shocked, Captain Lake, on that account' 'He was poor then, you see, and a few pounds were everything to him, and the temptation immense; but clumsy fellows ought not to try that sort of thing. There's the highway--Mark would have made a capital garrotter.' The attorney groaned, and turned up his eyes. The band was playing 'Pop goes the weasel,' and old Jackson, very well dressed and buckled up, with a splendid smile upon his waggish, military countenance, cried, as he passed, with a wave of his hand, 'How do, Lake--how do, Mr. Larkin--beautiful day!'