pened to give more light, and it's
rays directed upon the stone. Christian put down a shilling, Wildeve
another, and each threw. Christian won. They played for two, Christian
won again.

"Let us try four," said Wildeve. They played for four. This time the
stakes were won by Wildeve.

"Ah, those little accidents will, of course, sometimes happen, to the
luckiest man," he observed.

"And now I have no more money!" explained Christian excitedly. "And yet,
if I could go on, I should get it back again, and more. I wish this was
mine." He struck his boot upon the ground, so that the guineas chinked
within.

"What! you have not put Mrs. Wildeve's money there?"

"Yes. 'Tis for safety. Is it any harm to raffle with a married lady's
money when, if I win, I shall only keep my winnings, and give her her
own all the same; and if t'other man wins, her money will go to the
lawful owner?"

"None at all."

Wildeve had been brooding ever since they started on the mean estimation
in which he was held by his wife's friends; and it cut his heart
severely. As the minutes passed he had gradually drifted into a
revengeful intention without knowing the precise moment of forming it.
This was to teach Mrs. Yeobright a lesson, as he considered it to be;
in other words, to show her if he could that her niece's husband was the
proper guardian of her niece's money.

"Well, here goes!" said Christian, beginning to unlace one boot. "I
shall dream of it nights and nights, I suppose; but I shall always swear
my flesh don't crawl when I think o't!"

He thrust his hand into the boot and withdrew one of poor Thomasin's
precious guineas, piping hot. Wildeve had already placed a sovereign on
the stone. The game was then resumed. Wildeve won first, and Christian
ventured another, winning himself this time. The game fluctuated, but
the average was in Wildeve's favour. Both men became so absorbed in
the game that they took no heed of anything but the pigmy objects
immediately beneath their eyes, the flat stone, the open lantern, the
dice, and the few illuminated fern-leaves which lay under the light,
were the whole world to them.

At length Christian lost rapidly; and presently, to his horror, the
whole fifty guineas belonging to Thomasin had been handed over to his
adversary.

"I don't care--I don't care!" he moaned, and desperately set about
untying his left boot to get at the other fifty. "The devil will toss me
into the flames on his three-pr