s during the
early years of his life in the army. When of age, he had come into the
very nice little fortune, for a fourth son, of nine thousand pounds; and
it was known that there would be "something handsome" for him at his
father's death. He had a more than ordinary share of good looks; his
mind was tolerably cultivated, and afterwards enlarged by travel and
service in various parts of the world; in manners and address he was a
finished gentleman of the modern school. Yet all these advantages of
nature and fortune were in a great measure nullified and rendered of no
avail by reason of one fatal defect, of one black speck at the core. In
a word, Captain Ducie was a born gambler.

He had gambled when a child in the nursery, or had tried to gamble, for
cakes and toys. He had gambled when at school for coppers,
pocket-knives, and marbles. He had gambled when at the University, and
had felt the claws of the Children of Usury. He gambled away his nine
thousand pounds, or such remainder of it as had not been forestalled,
when he came of age. Later on, when in the army, and on home allowance
again, for his father would not let him starve, he had kept on gambling;
so that when, some five years later, his father died, and he dropped in
for the "something handsome," two-thirds of it had to be paid down on
the nail to make a free man of him again. On the remaining one-third he
contrived to keep afloat for a couple of years longer; then, after a
season of heavy losses, came the final crash, and Captain Ducie found
himself under the necessity of selling his commission, and of retiring
into private life.

From this date Captain Ducie was compelled to live by "bleeding" his
friends and connections. He was a great favourite among them, and they
rallied gallantly to his rescue. But Ducie still gambled; and the best
of friends, and the most indulgent of relatives, grew tired after a
time of seeing their cherished gold pieces slip heedlessly through the
fingers of the man whom it was intended that they should substantially
help, and be lost in the foul atmosphere of a gaming-house. One by one,
friend and relative dropped away from the doomed man, till none were
left. Little by little the tide of fortune ebbed away from his feet,
leaving him stranded high and dry on the cruel shore of impecuniosity,
hemmed in by a thousand debts, with the gaunt wolf of beggary staring
him in the face.

There was one point about Captain Ducie's gamblin