an awkwardly assumed air of patronage before the well-to-do clerks who boarded with him. Had William Brown worn gold lace instead of worsted, the merchant would have been conscious of some inferiority, military officers being really the princes of all countries, and common soldiers the Pariahs of every people.

Young Brown, however, possessed

the invaluable mental armor of what is called "a thick skin." He was by no means sensitive or prickly-minded, ! probably because he was in robust health, and too honestly occupied with the business of life to be self-conscious. The Scottish merchant's dinner was excellent, and cooked by a Scotch cook, with as much Scotch material as possible.

There was dried salmon and had

dock, potted game, shortbread and marmalade, all from the Land of Cakes, with amber ale of potent strength, and some extremely fragrant whiskey, all of which things form refreshing diet in hot countries.

"I'll not ask ye to tak' ony spirits, Mr. Broon," said the owner of these good things, helping himself, " because whiskey is not good for the young; but I'll aye drink your health and success to you;" and he helped himself.

The merchant spoke in that pleasant and kindly Scotch accent which was probably as deeply impressed upon his mind as on his tongue, and which few have heard often without finding that their hearts warmed to it as a Highlander's beneath the tartan. It is as impossible to convey any idea of it by the incorrect spelling of English words as it would be to make roses out of heather-bloom by the use of coarse paint.

To the present writer it has represented so much that is great and good in human nature that he can seldom listen to it without that emotion which is made up equally of memory and hope. It reminds him of the many honest lips from which it came, and seems to convey the prophecy that he may yet make another friend.

The taste of his native liquor seemed to open Mr. Brown's heart, and presently afterwards he said, "I've been thinking, sergeant, that ye'll not like to remain forever with a red coat upon your back and a musket on your arm; so if you would wish to enter my office, I'll see about buying your discharge one of these days. I can give you a hundred pound a year, your board and house-room, for a moderate amount of work daily."

66

"Thank you, sir," replied the soldier straightforwardly, but I like the army better than any other calling, and my superiors have promised to do their best to get me a commission." The sergeant's hopes had revived after a good dinner, and he was now disposed to take a more cheerful view of his prospects than he had done an hour or two before.

"Whew!" exclaimed Mr. Brown, making a whistling sound peculiarly Scotch, and feeling an enormous increase of respect for his guest. So you have distinguished yourself as highly as that, have you, my lad? How comes it then that ye have not got your commission already? It is getting a long while now since the last battle was fought, and I imagine ye'll not get your commission out of the parade ground."

The sergeant then told his host as much as he knew of the obstacles which had arisen in his way to advancement. He did not know much; but he was aware that General Violet and Colonel Oakes had both recommended him, also that the officers of his regiment had sent in a round-robin; in his favor to headquarters, and that nothing had come of it. Moreover for the last few days Colonel Oakes had plainly avoided the subject, though formerly he had been very ready to talk of it, and had tried in various rough, good-natured ways to make up for his disappointment.

Mr. Brown listened very attentively to all he said, and then answered, slowly stroking his chin, "I am thinking that you have no friend at court, Mr. Brown, and that the true hitch lies there. Tell me now, do ye mind that ye ever offended any one, who could put a spoke in your wheel, and prevent it turning round? I've ofttimes heard of such mishaps."

The sergeant declared that he had never consciously given offence to any one; that he had been upon active service all through the mutiny, and that he was well considered by all his superiors, without exception.

"Still ye might like enough be hated by some of the officials without knowing it, though if ye have been kept out of their way, that can scarcely be. I apprehend, therefore, Mr. Brown, that it is pure wrongheadedness on their pairt. But are ye quite sure o' the general and the colonel? They

are,

I am free to acknowledge, brave and good men, but in these matters ye will learn, if you live, that folks are not over trustworthy.'

The sergeant readily answered for both these officers, and then a queer sort of smile broke over the Scotch merchant's face.

"Well," he observed dryly," maybe I may be able to serve you better than a bigger man. I am tendering for a contract for military saddles, and I have to see Mr. Toll Bodger, the storemaster, about it no further off than tomorrow. He is related somehow to Sir Ajax, who has all British India under his thumb, and is as strong, through his connections, in the Governor-General's Council, as he is in his proper department. I'll make you no promises," added the merchant, "but if it's true that you haven't given any personal cause of affront to the Bodger family or their friends, I can see a short way to your epaulettes

though you might do better, laddie, you might do better if you would put a pen behind your ear, as I have done."

Young Brown then returned to barracks, thinking very little more of the merchant or his conversation. He had that easy creed which comes of sound sleep and a good digestion. The world was pleasant to him: everything seemed to him well as it was, and likely to become still better. There was nothing morbid - nothing of what soldiers call the "cocktail,' about him. Certainly his ambition and self-esteem had been aroused by the chance of promotion so far beyond every reasonable expectation he could have formed on enlisting. He had thought of what the curate would say at home there at Wakefield-in-theMarsh, and how his mother's fond eyes would kindle, and how erect his father would stand when they silently shook hands next time. And then he thought of what he would and could do for his brothers Jack and Gill, and Tom and Harry. It was an honest trait in the young fellow's character, that his daydream had not spoiled him, and that even when indulging it he never thought of denying his humble origin, or casting off any one of his poor peasant kinsfolk in the far Oxfordshire village away in the homeland, but that all his schemes of future happiness centred there. Even Susan Jincks was not forgotten, though he often wondered how little the remembrance of her seemed to move him. He recollected his child sweetheart indeed very much as a pretty picture he had seen long ago, perhaps in another state of existence. His own identity with the village boy of three years before was not quite clear to him.

He was sitting alone in his barrackroom on the evening of the day after he had dined with the Scotch merchant, and admiring the solemn beauty of an Indian night, with its large moon and stars looking so near and familiar, when he heard the voice of Lord Kinsgear faintly calling to him from an open window.

His

Hastening to his captain's quarters in reply to this summons, he found the marquis propped up by cushions, as he had been ever since that day when the sergeant had carried him at risk of his life from under the Indian fire. lordship did not seem to gain strength. The surgeons said he was a sickly patient; that he had inherited a bad constitution, and that he had not enough vitality to heal his wounds.

"Brown," said the marquis feebly, for he had latterly accustomed himself to break down all social distinctions between them when they were alone, "you saved my life a few weeks ago, and the least I can do is to try and lessen your sorrow now. Prepare yourself, my poor fellow, for bad news."

"I must bear it, my lord, whatever it be," returned the soldier, looking

very straight and stalwart as he stood upright, and prepared for evil fortune as firmly as he would have confronted an armed enemy; for he had not yet learned what terrible weapons there are in the hands of Fate, and had never once heard the fall of a thunderbolt from heaven. He heard it then for the first time.

66

Why do you say my lord'?" asked the sick man, with affectionate petulance. "Come here; let me have you near me while you suffer. Perhaps I may find an antidote, though I must give you poison, poor fellow."

The marquis fell back exhausted on his pillow, and closed his eyes before he resumed. "On my desk there, at the other side of the room, you will find two letters. The one came by the English mail to-day, under my father's cover. It is from Mr. Mowledy, the clergyman of Wakefield. He has also been so kind as to write to me, begging that I would prepare you for the contents of his letter, which is, you see, bordered with black. He must be a Christian gentleman, that country parson, and he is a good friend of yours, Brown.

"The other letter," added Lord Kinsgear after a pause, which showed how painful a labor it was for him to speak," was brought only ten minutes ago. I see it is official, and must bring you good tidings, though it was sent with Mr. Brown's compliments,' which I do not quite understand. You recollect the old Scotch contractor who came out with us, and hated me for being a marquis? The wounded nobleman smiled sadly, and took the sergeant's hand in his, as if to keep him from the momentous news which awaited him, a few minutes longer. He even gazed up into his face with some anxiety, and as he did so the one young man looked like the pale and wasted reflection of the other, seen through some distorting glass, which marred its attitude and fair proportions.

Having satisfied himself that the sergeant was calm-minded and stouthearted enough to meet his sorrow steadily, "Read your letters now, Brown," he said; "but take the blackbordered one first, and let me hold the other for you till you have read the worst."

Then side by side, descending upon him from on high together, came, as they always come, suddenly, wonderfully, and without warning, the supreme joy and sorrow of his life. In a few short moments he had learned from a scrap of paper that his whole family had gone down to their death at sea in a ship of which he had never so much as heard before. There was the paper in his hand, quite mute and silent, yet so big with news. It had been pricked all over with holes, and fumigated till the writing on it was almost unintelligible, lest it should be a messenger of evil, and yet it had stricken him to the heart.

As the young man stood, appalled and stunned by the tremendous blow which had smitten him, he felt the soft frail fingers of the marquis close gently on his own. "Read the other letter now, Brown, pray. Read it at once, for my sake."

Sergeant Brown took the official envelope mechanically in his hand, broke the great seal of it, and took something out. He could not see what it was, and held the envelope with its contents before him, one in his right hand, the other in his left, as though he offered them for Lord Kinsgear's inspection, with military stiffness. He evidently did not know what they were, and all his thoughts were far away in his mother's grave, where the willows wept in the quiet church-yard, and beneath the troubled waves of Mona, where the Royal Oak and her living freight of human souls went down.

Fortunately he was a very young man. He was not yet scared by misfortune, that so scars and dilapidates body and mind, shattering them with each successive stroke. The fountain of his tears was not yet dried up, and the Lethean waters, which wash away so much of our early anguish, came to his relief. Two large drops, great as storm rain, coursed each other slowly down his ghostly cheeks, and fell with a dull sound upon the floor.

Cry, Brown, and sit down here beside me," said the young lord, with brotherly tenderness. "You need not

go away, for we are comrades now. That dispatch announces that you have been appointed a cornet in the 1st Lancers, and to-morrow you are to have the Victoria Cross."

CHAPTER XII. RACE.

WILLIAM BROWN felt much more at large and at his ease in his new position. He took to it naturally, much as a duck takes to water, though bred in a hen-roost, or as a race-horse falls into his stride at a gallop as though he had never been forced to trot uneasily in the shafts of a butcher's cart or a Hansom cab. The lad had the bearing and manners natural to a gentleman the proud soldierly head, the upright mien and clearly cut features, the white shapely hands and well-defined nails. There is as much difference between men as between animals and in all the inferior creatures there is a general appearance of stumpiness, coarseness, and clumsiness, whereas in the king beasts all is fine, cleanly made, and graceful.

While these lines are writing there is a bird-show at the Crystal Palace, and the strong point of the show is a collection of canaries comprising no less than thirty-five out of seventyseven of the different classes into which those little birds may be divided by observant naturalists. To one of these varieties, the original canary of the Canary Islands stands in the same

relation as did William to his comrades in the rank and file of the army; or as the wild crab-apple stands to the finest fruit of the gardener's catalogue. The breeding even of so small a thing as a canary is a cunning mystery; and the gradations are infinite, beginning with the lizard-coated songster of the islands, and ending with those costly birds bred to the exact shade of yellow, and just marked with a dark feather in some appointed spot of head or wing.

It takes many generations to produce the finer tints and markings, and of course the fanciers sometimes try to steal a march on time, as an enriched usurer buys a noble name: but there is a law of nature which no clipping, drawing, trimming, painting, or coloring of the bird's plumage can set aside; and the poor winged creature, however bedizened it may be, will neither sing nor look rightly if it is not thorough-bred. Therefore the great object of the canary-breeders, who are a philosophical money-making class (at present much unconcerned with the government of this or any other nation) is to produce a bird of a fine shade of yellow and it is certain that, as a matter of fact, it actually can be produced "ticked," or marked either on the wing or on the back, the breast, the neck, or the top of the head, as desired. Such birds practically may be bred to a single feather, though it is important to note that hundreds of eggs may have been laid and hatched before the exact plume makes its appearance.

So it matters little where or when a man may have been born; he is certain to rise up to his own level in every state of society which the world has seen not perhaps in name, but in fact. Provided only he possesses the rudiments of education, he will come out of any dark and fiery trial whatsoever into the pure daylight of heaven the first time he has a chance, if there is anything in him; and we all have chances enough and to spare some that we spoil, some that we lose, some that we throw away disdainfully.

The first steps on the ladder of life are always a little difficult for a man who has to make his own way quite unaided up it. But then aid so soon comes to him in the ordinary course of things, if his footing is firm and his eye steady, so that he does not tumble down in the mud disgracefully at first starting. There is a natural instinct among the better class of people to protect and aid the young. A bold honest lad wins friendship and love without effort, and they smooth many difficulties over which their elders have to stumble painfully enough. Also the first gleam of success is almost certain to go on increasing till it becomes quite a halo, if not put out by any malevolent influence, and one honor is always security for more.

(To be continued.)

e

The Late my teen fred vr the jam IẾ voor vuri is seen preserved probably ever sore ture of ne put on a due family ANG VINÀ alube be 11 grows a defde rame as it kowi a rice day. This book score raiT I 1 yan eher the publicar of the - Rage of the Coners Camberter:" is was Lex") wie the same sf the * Wyk & the re-pare r expressly for the use of the young price the ages of the Frince of Wales, age IL: and Onore being the most fashion204 game base fret on its pages. The orpy before us is the wil uition, dated 1099 and there can be time doobs that the gate of Ombre is describes is identica, with that payed at Hampton Court Palace in the days when Belinda be expposed to have encountered the two adventurous Knights in the imaginary tournament so picturesquely de

The description of the game opens as follows:

"The game of Ombre owes its invention to the Spaniards, and has in it a great deal of the gravity peculiar to that nation. It is caused El hombre, of the MAN. It was so named as requiring thought and reflection, which are qualities peculiar to man ; or rather, alluding to HIM who undertakes to play the game against the rest of the gamesters, and is called the MAN. To play it well requires a great deal of application; and let a man be ever so expert, he will be apt to fall into mistakes if he think of anything else, or is disturbed by the conversation of those that look on.

"Attention and quietness are absolutely necessary in order to play well. Therefore if the spectators are discreet, they will be satisfied with the pleasure of seeing it played, without distracting the gamesters.

"What I have said is not to persuade any who have a mind to learn it, that the pleasure is not worth the pains. On the contrary, it will be found the most delightful and entertaining of all games to those who have anything in them of what we call the Spirit of Play."

This encomium is well deserved, for we can bear testimony that Ombre has great merits: it gives much scope for skilful play, and is extremely varied and amusing. It is, moreover, a highly original game, having very peculiar features. The fact of its being for three players should render it acceptable, as there is scarcely any good game now known for that number of players.2

1 Pronounced, not as in French, but Ombre.

"At a later date Ombre became altered into a game called Quadrille, for four players, and which was described in an article on " Games at Cards for the Coming Winter," in Macmillan's Magazine for December, 1861. This article has become famous on several grounds: It was the first introduction to this country [England] of the game of Bézique, now so popular; it contained the first account of Piquet, so clear as to enable it to be learnt from a written description; and a remark in it on Whist gave rise to an entirely new class of Whist Literature, that has immensely improved the general knowledge of this fine game.

(The two black Aces are always trumps, and are not therefore included above.)

:

For the trump suit the order of value is as follows:First comes the Ace of Spades, which, whatever be the trump suit, always ranks as the best trump card, and is called Spadille.

Second in rank comes what would be the lowest card if the suit were not trumps, i. e., the Seven if red, and the Two if black; this is called Manille.

Third comes the Ace of Clubs, which, whatever be the trump suit, is always ranked as the third best trump card, and is called Basto.

Fourth, if the trump suit be red, comes the Ace of that suit, which is called Ponto; if black there is no Ponto.

After these come the other cards of the trump suit in their usual order, so that the complete suit of trumps is as follows:

at Piquet), and are placed to the right of the dealer, to be appropriated by the players who discard, as hereafter explained.

No trump card is turned up, the trump suit being determined in another way.

Every deal is a fresh game, the deal passing on in turn round to the right hand, in the direction of the play.

SELECTION OF THE OMBRE.

The cards being dealt, the next thing is to determine who shall be "Ombre," this being the name given to one of the players who takes the principal part in the game. It is his province to play against the other two; and he undertakes independently to win the game, which consists in making more tricks than either of his opponents. To do this certainly he must make five tricks; but four will suffice if each of the other players makes two.

As the process for the choice of the Ombre is somewhat complicated, it will simplify the description to distinguish the three players by the letters A, B, and C: C being the dealer, A the elder hand sitting on his right, and B the one between them.

The elder hand has the first option of being Ombre. He therefore examines his hand to form an opinion as to his chance of winning the game. In doing this he has to take into account two great privileges he will possess.

1. He will have the power of deciding what suit shall be trumps. And

2. He will be at liberty to discard from his hand any number of cards he pleases, and to substitute for them an equal number taken from the top of the talon, or stock, whereby he may exchange useless for useful cards; and thus considerably improve his chance of winning.

If, these things being considered, he thinks he may win the game, he intimates his willingness to become Ombre by the formula, "I ask leave," or "I will play."

Before, however, he obtains the leave desired, the player to his right, B, has the option whether he will take Ombre on a more restricted condition, i. e., without discarding; or, as it is technically termed, sans prendre. If he will, he And if the elder hand, A, then chooses to play sans prendre, he has the preference; if not, the other claimant, B, becomes Ombre.

says so.

If B does not choose to play sans prendre, he says, "I pass," and the same privilege goes on to C. If both B and C pass, A becomes Ombre. If the elder hand choose to play sans prendre, he must say so on first looking at his cards, when he becomes Ombre without question; he cannot play sans prendre after having asked leave.

It may happen, however, that the elder hand does not like the look of his cards, and is not inclined to take Ombre. He then says, "I pass," and the option goes to B. If he asks leave, C may offer sans prendre, and the same process is gone through as before named; B having the preference, if he choose to claim it on the same condition.

If no one is inclined to be Ombre, i. e., if all three "pass," the game is not played, but the parties go on to the next deal, which is taken by the player to the right of the former one.

DISCARDING.

When the Ombre is appointed, if he does not play sans prendre, he is at liberty to discard from his hand any number of cards he chooses, and to substitute for them an equal number taken from the top of the stock.

After Ombre has discarded, the player to his right may discard and take in, in like manner, and after him the third player.

Each discard is of course concealed from the other players.

If any cards are ultimately left in the stock, the last discarder (as at Piquet) may look at them, and after him the two other players. But if he does not wish to see them, they must remain concealed from all.

THE PLAY.

The play for tricks then proceeds in the same manner as at Whist, except that it goes round the contrary way, the party to the right of the dealer leading to the first trick. The following suit, trumping, etc., are precisely like Whist, except as to the privilege of the three Mats, which, as already explained, need not be played to smaller trumps led. The Ombre has to play against the two others, who have a combined interest in opposing him. They must therefore play on some sort of system, so as to use their forces to the best advantage, and some rules on this point will be given hereafter. It is best for their interests that they should not be equally strong, but that one opponent should be much stronger than the other, and s ould take the principal conduct of the opposition to the Ombre, the other doing little or nothing. According to some modes of play, used in Spain, this is arranged openly before the discard, the strong opponent being called the Contra Ombre and the weak one the Companion. But in the English game this is not the custom, the respective parts being only revealed by the play.

There is, however, a certain privilege allowed. If the strong opponent has already played the winning card of a commenced trick, and the other opponent is last player, the former can advise the latter not to win it, the division of the tricks being a matter of considerable importance to the defence.

The play may have either of three results:

1. Ombre may fulfil his undertaking to get more tricks than either of the other players, thus winning the game. Or,

2. One of the other players may win the game, gaining the largest number of tricks; this is called Codille. Or, 3. The game may be drawn, by Ombre and the most successful opponent both getting the same number, or by the parties getting three tricks each. In this case no one wins; but the Ombre, having failed to fulfil his undertaking, is obliged to make a forfeit to the pool, as hereafter explained.

THE VOLE.

If Ombre makes the first five tricks (which ensures him the game), he may, if he chooses, go on playing, with the intention of gaining, if he can, the whole nine (called the Vole). This is a separate speculation on his part. After announcing his intention, the opponents have the liberty to show each other their hands, to enable them the better to defeat Ombre's design.

PAYMENTS.

We now come to the effect of the play in gains or forfeits. The arrangement of these is very variable, depending on the customs in different places, and on the fancy of the players, who may arrange beforehand any system or amounts they think fit.

The system of payments described in the "Complete Gamester" appears very complicated, so much so that one could hardly expect it to be adopted by persons learning the game afresh in the present day. We shall therefore venture to simplify it materially, and to describe a plan which, while it retains all the essential features of Pope's time, will be found so easy and simple as to offer no difficulty to the learner or embarrassment to the player.

The game is played with counters, which should be of different kinds, analogous to coins; and which will represent different proportional values as at ordinary round games. For domestic play, the simple counter may be worth a penny, and the larger ones may represent sixpences and shillings. Each player is furnished with a certain number, say five or ten shillings' worth, which he keeps in a little tray before him. There should also be provided a larger tray for the pool.

At the commencement of the play each player puts three counters into the pool, the tray being then placed on the right of the dealer.

If there is no Ombre that deal—i. e., if every player passes the three players each add one counter to the pool, and the tray passes on to the right of the next dealer, the stake for the next game being thus increased from nine to twelve; thus, for every time of passing three counters are added to the stake.

The stake played for is whatever the pool may happen

to contain.

If Ombre wins, he empties the pool.

If the game is drawn (by Ombre getting the same number of tricks as his most successful opponent), Ombre forfeits to the pool a sum equal to that already in it, thus doubling the stake for the next game.

If Codille is won by one opponent getting the majority of tricks, Ombre pays to that opponent the same sum as is in the pool, the pool itself remaining untouched, and standing over to the next game.

It will thus be seen that in every case, except when Ombre wins, there is something left in the pool, to be reserved for the next deal.

After a drawn game, or a Codille, the players each add one counter to the pool before the next deal; but whenever the pool is emptied, by Ombre winning, they subscribe each three counters, to form a new pool.

There are certain other transactions, independent of the ordinary stake, as follows:

Supposing the Ombre holds all three Mats; if he wins, each of the opponents pays him three counters. If the game is drawn, he puts six into the pool; if he loses Codille, he pays three to each opponent.

Supposing Ombre plays sans prendre, he receives or pays the same extra sums as described for the three Mats.

If he plays for the Vole and wins it, he receives from each opponent half the amount in the pool; if he does not win, he pays each an equal sum. (This is quite independent of, and in addition to, the ordinary transactions for the game.)

If any player revokes, or plays with more or less than nine cards, or exposes a card in discarding or taking in, he must at once forfeit to the pool three counters, which go to increase the stake for that game; it being understood that the stake played for each deal (and taken by Ombre if he wins) is the amount in the pool at the end of the hand, whatever it may be.

RULES AND LAWS.

It would take us beyond our limits to give any extended rules for play, or laws of the game. They may both be deduced sufficiently well from Whist, with easy modifications.

A player who has a good knowledge of Whist will find but little difficulty, after a little practice, in adapting his knowledge to the play of Ombre, the problems and situations being very similar; and the aptitude thus acquired will be far more valuable and more firmly impressed on the mind, than if it were the result of rules and directions for the special game.

Beginners are a little puzzled at first to determine when they should play, and when they should pass. The only general rule that can be given is, that three tricks certain and a chance of a fourth will justify an "ask-leave," as one or two additional tricks may be expected from the discard. To justify playing sans prendre (where there is nothing to hope for beyond what is in the hand), there should be, if not five tricks certain, at least four certain, and a good chance of the fifth. A renounce with several small trumps is very favorable for a sans prendre, as the opponents are likely to have several of the suit, and therefore one or more tricks by trumping are nearly certain.

It is not always good play for Ombre to begin by leading trumps, unless he has overpowering strength in them, and has good cards to bring in after the opponents' trumps are drawn. He may often steal more tricks by holding them up, particularly if a tenace or a guarded second be among them.

The most difficult part of the game for beginners, and