she'll have you 'up' for a little private
discipline afterwards. Come, don't lose time.
I want to do my cathedral, and my gallery, and
my other curiosities in one day, for I have some
matters to settle at Orto before I start for Basle.
Have they a club, a casino, or anything of the
sort here, where they play?"

"There is a place they call the Gettone, but
I've never been there but once."

"Well, we'll finish there this evening; for
I want to win a little money, to pay my
journey."

"If I can help you—"

"No, no. Not to be thought of. I've got
some fifty Naps by me— tame elephants— that
are sure to entrap others. You must come with
me to Basle, Bob. You can't desert me in such
a crisis," said Calvert, as they left the inn together.

"We'll see. I'll think over it. The difficulty
will be—"

"The impossibility is worse than a difficulty;
and that is what I shall have to face if you
abandon me. Why, only think of it for a moment.
Here I am, jilted, out of the army— for
I know I shall lose my commission— without
a guinea; you'd not surely wish me to
say, without a friend! If it were not that it
would be so selfish, I'd say the step will be
the making of you. You'll have that old bear
so civilised on your return, you'll not know
him."

"Do you really think so?"

"I know it. He'll see at once that you'll not
stand this sort of bullying. That if you did,
your friends would not stand it. We shan't be
away above four days, and those four days will
give him a fright he'll never forget."

"I'll think over it."

"No. You'll do it— that's better; and I'll
promise you— if Mr. Graham does not enter a
fatal objection— to come back with you and stand
to you through your troubles."

Calvert had that about him in his strong will,
his resolution, and his readiness at reply, which
exercised no mean despotism over the fellows of
his own age. And it was only they who disliked
and avoided him who ever resisted him. Barnard
was an easy victim, and before the day drew
to its close, he had got to believe that it was by
a rare stroke of fortune Calvert had come to
Milan— come to rescue him from the " most degrading
sort of bondage a good fellow could
possibly fall into."

They dined splendidly, and sent to engage
a box at the Opera; but the hours passed so
pleasantly over their dinner, that they forgot all
about it, and only reached the theatre a few
minutes before it closed.

"Now for the— what do you call the place?"
cried Calvert.

"The Gettone."

"_ That's it. I'm eager to measure my luck
against these Milanuais. They say, besides, no
fellow has such a vein as when his life is
threatened; and I remember myself, when I
had the yellow fever at Galle, I passed twenty-one
times at écarté, all because I was given
over!"

"What a fellow you are, Calvert!" said the
other, with a weak man's admiration for whatever
was great, even in infamy.

"You'll see how I'll clear them out. But
what have I done with my purse? Left it on my
dressing-table. I suppose they are honest in the
hotel?"

"Of course they are. It's all safe; and I've
more money about me than you want. Old Rep
handed me three thousand francs this morning
to pay the bill, and, when I saw you, I forgot
all about it."

"Another element of luck," cried Calvert,
joyously. " The money that does not belong to
a man always wins. Why, there's five thousand
francs here," said Calvert, as he counted over
the notes.

"Two of them are Fanny's. She got her
quarter's allowance yesterday. Stingy, isn't it?
Only three hundred a year."

"It's downright disgraceful. She ought to
have eight at the very least; but wait till we
come back from Basle. You'll not believe what
a change I'll work in that old fellow, when I
take him in hand."

By this time they had reached the Gettone,
and, after a brief colloquy, were suffered to pass
up-stairs and enter the rooms.

"Oh, it's faro they play; my own game,"
whispered Calvert. " I was afraid the fellows
might have indulged in some of their own confounded
things, which no foreigner can compete
in. At faro I fear none."

While Barnard joined a group of persons
round a roulette-table, where fashionably-
dressed women adventured their franc pieces
along with men clad in the most humble mode,
Calvert took his place among the faro players.
The boldness of his play, and the reckless way
he adventured his money, could not conceal
from their practised acuteness that he was
master of the game, and they watched him
attentively.

"I think I have nearly cleaned them out, Bob,"
cried he to his friend, as he pointed to a heap of
gold and silver, which lay promiscuously piled
up before him.

"I suppose you must give them their revenge?"
whispered the other, " if they wish
for it."

"Nothing of the kind. At a public table, a
winner rises when he pleases. If I continue to
sit here now, it is because that old fellow yonder
has got a rouleau in his pocket which he cannot
persuade himself to break. See, he has taken
it out; for the fourth time, this is. I wonder
can he screw up his courage to risk it. Yes!
he has! There go ten pieces on the queen.
Go back to your flirtation with the blonde
ringlets, and don't disturb my game. I must
have that fellow's rouleau before I leave. Go
back, and I'll not tell your wife."

It was in something less than an hour after
this that Barnard felt a hand laid on his
shoulder, and looking up, saw Calvert standing