e while it lasted. Such liveries, such coaches,
such elegant dinners every day, I never saw even in Paris. But my master
was soon sent away for a piece of wildness he did. There was an ould
Austrian there--a Count Riedensegg was his name---and he was always
plottin' and schamin' with this, that, and the other; buyin' up the
sacrets of others, and gettin' at their private papers one way or the
other; and at last he begins to thry the same game with us; and as he
saw that Mr. Brooke was very fond of high play, and would bet anything
one offered him, the ould count sends for a great gambler from Vienna,
the greatest villain, they say, that ever touched a card. Ye may have
heerd of him, tho' 'twas long ago that he lived, for he was well known
in them times. He was the Baron von Breokendorf, and a great friend
afterwards of the Prince Ragint and all the other blaguards in London.

'Well, sir, the baron arrives in great state, with despatches, they
said, but sorrow other despatch he carried nor some packs of marked
cards, and a dice-box that could throw sixes whenever ye wanted; and he
puts up at the Grand Hotel, with all his servants in fine liveries
and as much state as a prince. That very day Mr. Brooke dined with the
count, and in the evening himself and the baron sits down to the cards;
and, pretending to be only playin' for silver, they were bettin' a
hundred guineas on every game.

'I always heerd that my master was cute with the cards, and that few
was equal to him in any game with pasteboard or ivory; but, be my
conscience, he met his match now, for if it was ould Nick was playin' he
couldn't do the thrick nater nor the baron. He made everything come up
just like magic: if he wanted a seven of diamonds, or an ace of spades,
or the knave of clubs, there it was for you.

'Most gentlemen would have lost temper at seein' the luck so dead agin'
them, and everything goin' so bad; but my master only smiled, and
kept muttering to himself, "Faix, its beautiful; by my conscience its
elegant; I never saw anybody could do it like that." At last the baron
stops and asks, "What is it he's saying to himself?" "I'll tell you
by-and-by," says my master, "when we're done playing"; and so on they
went, betting higher and higher, till at last the stakes wasn't very
far from a thousand pounds on a single card. At the end, Mr. Brooke lost
everything, and in the last game, by way of generosity, the baron says
to him, "Double or quit?" an