"Well said! Your wit has- saved you.—Bring in the teapot, John." ,

The cards, the wine,—the tea was brought.

"We will not cut for partners," said Commit, shuffling the cards ; "let it be a game of pure skill—party against party. My lord and I will play with you and Feinton for a hundred guineas."

"Done !- for two hundred," I exclaimed ; for I had

already drunk beyond prudence. Feinton, however, who had been more temperate, appeared reluctant.

"Two hundred ?" repeated Bonmot, slowly shuffling the cards with an air of reflection. "'Tis a large stake for the first—However, I don't care: what say you, my lord!" .

"It's a matter of indifference to me," answered his lordship.

"Well then— but Mr. Feinton seems dissatisfied?"

"Why/' said Feinton, with hesitation,—" I—I think the sum too large."

"The devil, Feinton," I exclaimed,—"don't hesitate about a trifle! Come, indulge yourself for once." I could be thus familiar with him; for, though I have had no occasion to introduce him before, he was the one I liked the most of all my acquaintance—indeed, my intimate friend.

"I am perfectly willing, Levis; but you well know I cannot afford to stake so highly. Let it be a hundred."

"A hundred, then," cried Bonmot. "And now for the deal.—Ah, confound it! there go the cards !" he added, as the whole pack fell from his hand upon the floor. The servant stooped to pick them up. "No matter," said Bonmot, "I have them now—they were not much scattered"—and he raised apparently the same pack, and began to shuffle it.

The deal came to me, and Lord Findue cut.

The game commenced. I drank my wine, and laughed mil talked; Bonmot sipped his tea, and laughed, talked, punned, sang, and roared. Feinton could not keep us silent. Both himself, however, and Lord Findue played as they should,—the former drinking moderately—the latter to an excess that made me wonder; for it had no more effect upon him, than if it had been so much coffee, or any other moderate stimulant.

The first game was mine and Feinton's; the second turned out for our antagonists; and the third again was ours. So the hundred guineas were won.

"Now double the stakes!" I exclaimed.

"Agreed !" cried Bonmot, still laughing.

"Done!" added my partner, forgetting his caution. And his lordship said nothing, but looked as cold as ever.

The second rubber we lost. Feinton became again distrustful, and proposed to reduce the stakes; but I roared, and swore, and forgetting, not merely the deference I owed to the wishes of my guests, but even common decency, exclaimed, "I'll be damned if I play any longer, unless the stakes be doubled!"

"But"—said Femton anxiously. I would not listen to him.

"It is but two hundred apiece, Feinton; and if we lose, I hope we are friends enough to settle it without difficulty." —And Feinton suffered himself to be persuaded, or rather, out-talked.

"Four hundred guineas, then!" roared Bonmot.

"Four hundred," quietly repeated Lord Findue, with a. cold smile—the first of any kind I had yet seen upon his lordship's lips.

"Four hundred !" I added, echoing Bonmot; and filled myself another glass—though my brain was already reeling.

Feinton said nothing; and the third rubber commenced. We lost it.

"Levis," said my partner, in a voice affectedly calm, "' I'll thank jou for the wine." I was about to push it to him; but he extended his arm, while my hand was yet upon the bottle, and took it from me, pressing my fingers In a manner that declared, at once, his motive in asking for the wine was but to attract my attention. I looked at him. He glanced his eye quickly upon Bonmot, and then upon the cards—which the Honourable gentleman was shuffling, with his head bent over them, so that he did not observe us. I understood the glance, and my hot temper, already kindled by excessive drinking, burst at once into flame.

Without stopping to reflect that Feinton's hint might be but a mere suspicion, I sprang from the table almost out of my senses, and threw my chair with violence to the opposite side of the room.

"Why, what's the matter, Jerry?" asked Bonmot, with some surprise; for the action was so sudden that the whole party around the table started.simultaneously from their chairs. ,

"The matter, Jerry?" I exclaimed with bitterness, mimicking him. Then, raising my voice—" Mr. Bonmot, sir, best knows what the matter is."

"How ?" cried the Honourable gentleman, with a laugh —but not a laugh of good-nature ;—" you have drunk too much, Mr. Levis."

"Drunk too much!—And you, sir," I added, with par. ticular emphasis, "have—played too much."

"Mr. Levis," said my antagonist, with the sneer of a devil, and in a voice affectedly cool, "—when you have recovered your senses, I will listen to you. Your brain, sir, is too soft at present."

Had he met my rage with rage, I might have gradually cooled, till I was able to listen to reason : but—this sneer!

I reached my arm across the table, and muttering

between my gnashed teeth "Scoundrel!", struck him directly in the face. He staggered; but, being a strong man, did not fall.

Feinton and Lord Findue, who had hitherto stood by inactive, now threw themselves between us.

"Alas, sir!" she answered, "I cannot give James what he wants. This morning he ate a bit of dry;; bread"

"My God! Have you a basket?" i(l

"No sir," sbe answered, with some surprise at the question. ;i

"No matter. Here, my little fellow, take this guinea, go—but no, it will not do to trust you alone—come with me." And I hurried little Dick from the hovel.—His mother, who now comprehended me, could not speak; , for her heart was full. I

Luckily, at a little distance, I found a grocery which was not yet closed. There I bought a loaf of bread, some , oatmeal, sugar, and a basket in which to carry them. I; then went to a tavern, and added to these articles a couple of bottles of the best wine. i

The moment we re-entered the house, my little companion, who had not opened his lips the whole way ., {—indeed, I gave him no opportunity—), cried out " Mo-; ther, mother! he's brought us bread! he's brought us , bread \—Charley !—Georgy! see here!" ,

The mother endeavoured to stop him; but it was now too late. Both the brothers leaped from their straw, and the father, startled from his sleep, opened his languid eyes upon the scene. 1

"O, mother, mother! mayn't we have a bit of that nice bread V cried the famished children—the first object that fixed their eyes being, of course, that which they most coveted; but the next moment, seeing a stranger, they hurried under their wretched covering.

"Sarah," faintly uttered the invalid, "how is this?'

"O, I can scarcely tell you, James !" answered his wife, moistening his shrivelled hands with her tears,—" We owe it all to this gentleman—we owe it all to him!"

The poor man raised himself upon his elbow, and gazed earnestly in my face. "Merciful God!" he exclaimed,——" So young too!"

It was too much for me to bear. I took him by the bond. "You owe me nothmg," I said,—"nothing at all; or, if you would indeed be grateful" (—perceiving he was about to speak—), "only do as I wish you,"— and, calling for a cup, I poured out some of the wine, and moistening with it a bit of bread, I put the morsel to his pallid lips.

"O, this is too much!" he cried, averting his face,— •' too much !—Sarah, take it from him—do; I can eat it much better from your hands."

Here, little Dick, mistaking the meaning of his father's words, hastily interposed. "O, father, father—do take it from him! This is a good doctor I'm sure, if there ever was one!"

"Sweet boy!" I exclaimed—turning the child from the bed (—for I felt how difficult it must be for the poor man to eat, while I observed him, the bread I gave); and I kissed the lids of his beautiful eyes as he bashfully depressed them. I then gave him, and each of his brothers, some portion of the loaf. To see the eagerness with which the poor children devoured their simple

food! It filled me with a delight more real than I had

ever known before.—Little Dick ate his share standing by my side; and, at each mouthful, the charming boy pressed still nearer to me, and looked up in my face with an expression of so much thankfulness! I felt as though I could hug him forever; while the two younger children would bite a piece from theirs, as they lay hidden in their straw, stretch their little heads above the coverlet, look in my face with that gaze—half bold, half timid— which is so delightful in childhood, and again conceal themselves till they had again filled their little mouths. And then I sprinkled some of the sugar upon their bread. The sweet innocents could scarcely express their wonder—" O, mother, mother ! only look here !"; and little Dick cried out, in his joy, "Mother, see what I've got!