ct, nearer than
Crook anticipated. His pleasant manner and agreeable society at
_vingt-et-un_ procured us another invitation for the following night
but one, and of course we accepted it. It was a great change to me
from the scenery of the Elm Court chimney-pots.

Whatever might be Crook's happily sanguine disposition and hope of
retrieving his luck, there was one thing which the calculator of
chances does not take into consideration in games of this kind. We,
visiting such cultured and fashionable people, would never for a
moment think so meanly of our friends; I mean the possibility of their
cheating, a word never mentioned in well-bred society. A suspicion of
such conduct, even, would be tantamount to treason, and a violation of
the rules that regulate the conduct of ladies and gentlemen. It was
far from all our thoughts, and the devil alone could entertain so
malevolent an idea. Be that as it may, as a matter of philosophy, the
onlooker sees most of the game, and as I was an onlooker this is what
I saw:--

The elegant lady _exchanged glances with one of the players while she
was looking over Crook's hand_! Crook was losing as fast as he could,
and no wonder. I was now in an awkward position. To have denounced our
hosts because I interpreted a lady's glances in a manner that made her
worse than a common thief might have produced unknown trouble. But I
kept my eye on the beautiful blonde, nevertheless, and became more
and more confirmed in my suspicions without any better opportunity of
declaring them.

The charming well-bred lady thus communicating her knowledge of
Crook's cards, I need not say he was soon reduced to a state of
insolvency; and as the party was too exclusive and fashionable to
extend their hospitality to those who had not the means of paying,
it soon broke up, and we returned to our rooms, I somewhat wiser and
Crook a great deal poorer.

Such was the adventure which came to my mind when I saw in the Queen's
Bench at Westminster the trial of "Boyle and Lawson" against the
_Times_ for calumnious insinuations against the character of a lady
and others, suggesting that they obtained false letters of credit to
enable them to cheat and defraud.

_This_ was the select party which Norwich society had lionized--the
great unknown to whom we had been introduced, and where Crook had been
cheated out of his travelling-money!

The lady was the fair plaintiff in this action, seeking for the
rehabilitation o