f I can get
leave from head-quarters; but why did you want to know if I played at
billiards?"

"Oh, I have been playing a good deal lately with Cumberland, who
seems very fond of the game, and I'm going to meet him at the rooms in
F----Street to-day; so I thought, if you knew anything of the game, you
might like to come with me."

"Cumberland is a first-rate player, isn't he?" asked I.

"No, I do not think so: we play very evenly, I should say; but we are to
have a regular match to-day, to decide which is the best player."

"Do you play for money?"

"Just a trifle to give an interest to the game, nothing more," replied
Oaklands; "our match to-day is for a five-pound note."

I must confess that I could not help feeling extremely uneasy at the
information Oaklands had just given me. The recollection of what Coleman
had said concerning some gaming affair in which Cumberland was supposed
~66~~to have behaved dishonourably, combined with a sort of general
notion, which seemed to prevail, that he was not exactly a safe person
to have much to do with, might in some degree account for this; still
I always felt a kind of instinctive dislike and mistrust of Cumberland,
which led me to avoid him as much as possible on my own account. In the
present instance, when the danger seemed to threaten my friend, this
feeling assumed a vague character of fear; "and yet," reasoned I with
myself, "what is there to dread? Oaklands has plenty of money at his
command; besides, he says they play pretty evenly, so that he must
win nearly as often as Cumberland; then, he is older than I am, and of
course must be better able to judge what is right or wrong for him to
do." However, remembering the old adage, that "lookers-on see most of
the game," I determined, for once, to accompany him; I therefore told
him that, though I could not play myself, it would be an amusement to me
to watch them, and that, if he had no objection, I would go with him, to
which proposition he willingly agreed. As we turned into F----Street we
were joined by Cumberland, who, as I fancied, did not seem best pleased
at seeing me, nor did the scowl which passed across his brow, on hearing
I was to accompany them, tend to lessen this impression. He did not,
however, attempt to make any opposition to the plan, merely remarking
that, as I did not play myself, he thought I should find it rather dull.
After proceeding about half way down the street Cumberland stopped in
front