CHAPTER XVII.

LOVE AND PIQUET.

Up rose the yellow moon—

The devil's in the moon for mischief; they
Who called her chaste, methinks, began too soon
Their nomenclature; there is not a day,
The longest, not the twenty-first of June,
Sees half the business in a wicked way,
On which three single hours of moonshine smile-
And then she looks so modest all the while!

BYRON.

I FOUND Country quarters far more agreeable than I imagined, when ordered off from Drogheda; and in a few days made myself pretty comfortable in my rackety room, and the adjacent closet my dormitory, to which I became hourly more attached, as it was next to Miss Lucinda's chamber, with whom, by means of a decayed panel in the wainscot, I maintained a sort of Pyramus and Thisbe communication. My military duties were not severe, as I had only to accompany the gauger when he required assistance, in turn of duty with the cynic and fiddler. With these brethren of the sword, my intimacy was never great. The former of fending me by the severity of his remarks upon the Daly family, and more particularly Miss Lucinda. The fiddler was a fool, a bore, and a bigot; he believed firmly in the intercession of holy women, used holy water, frequented holy wells, and declared that heaven was unattainable by any means but a fish diet.

With Captain O'Moore I held a guarded intercourse. I found him eternally a borrower, and greatly disposed to treat me as a schoolboy, if I would but allow it. Indeed, he was anything but a safe companion, twice he persuaded me to shoot in his company. On the first expedition, he managed to upset a cobble, in which we were ferrying ourselves over to an island in a lake, and gave me a swim for my life, which I preserved with the loss of my fowling-piece. On the other occasion, he fired at a gamekeeper, and to stop a prosecution, we were obliged to buy off the wounded man, the subsidy coming from my purse; for, to do him justice, I never saw any portion of the circulating medium in his possession during our acquaintance, except what he won from me in teaching me piquet; a course of which he recommended as an essential accomplishment for

a military man. My neighbours, the Dalys, were, therefore, my chief companions-indeed, we nearly lived together. Not that this society was altogether the most desirable, for he, poor man! was miserably hen-pecked, and she a regular white sergeant, who swore like a trooper. But Lucy was the magnet that attracted me; and if we ever dreamed of establishing a platonic flirtation, her honoured parents gave us the best of fair-play, and showed, by leaving us everlastingly together, how highly they estimated our prudence and dis

cretion.

Among Lucy's numerous accomplishments, she might honestly include bold and graceful riding. She had a very pretty roan pony; and when the weather permitted it we rode over the country tête-à-tête, wherever fancy directed.

I had now been a month detached; March was going out with its proverbial mildness, and, seduced by the fineness of the day, we had prolonged our ride, and found it later than usual when we alighted at the barrack-door. The cynic was standing on the steps, yet he offered no resistance to my fair companion in dismounting; and I thought his cold acknowledgment, as she passed him, had more of a sneer than a smile in its expression. I felt piqued, and I would have been happy to have resented it had I only known how; but when a man seeks a quarrel, it is wonderful how soon fortune stands his friend.

That night the gauger sent in a requisition for a party. From a cause which it is unnecessary to explain, it was doubtful on whom the turn of duty fell; and whether the honour of attending the exciseman should devolve upon me, the cynic, or the fiddler, was what lawyers call, a point for argument. Indeed, under common circumstances, the thing would not have caused me a thought; the duty was but an agreeable night-walk, and never at a sweeter season did Philistines disturb an honest distiller. But I had private reasons for wishing to avoid still-hunting; and besides, I was smarting under real or imaginary discourtesy.

We met in the orderly-room; O'Moore was there, and I think encouraged the cynic, and increased the misunderstanding between us. Words ran high; I was petulant, and he positive; the breach widened, until after delivering myself of a speech that I opined would require a hostile message, I left the room abruptly. It is right to say, that the fiddler, from a characteristic love of harmony, I suppose, when matters looked squally, good-naturedly cut short the cause of controversy, by taking the duty himself.

Youth will be foolish. A free untrammelled boyhood, a precocious maturity of constitution, intercourse with wild society, familiarity with wild opinions; all united in pushing me upon the stage of manhood years before a more delicate frame, or a more regular and refined education, would have permitted it. I had entered the world; I felt myself the member of a chivalrous profession; the object, for the first time, of woman's love-and fancied myself an ill-used man, when, in years and experience of human life, I was no better than a froward school-boy.

Still in high dudgeon, I walked up and down the courtyard, when a tap upon the shoulder made me turn briskly round, and Aylmer stood beside me.

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I have sought you, Mr. Blake-"

I interrupted him-" And I trust found me readily. But would not your friend save some trouble to us both ?"

Aylmer smiled. "I am afraid I must disappoint you, Mister Blake, and you will have to look out for somebody else to practise at. No, no; when Frank Aylmer wants a quarrel, he must look for some other than Cæsar Blake's

son."

I started; and he continued

I knew not till a few minutes since that you were the son of my valued friend. Yes, I was his comrade and companion, when my years were green as your own; and he saved my commission by sacrificing his. But no more of this now; we will talk of it to-morrow. See, where that cowardly Scoundrel" and he pointed to O'Moore, who was evidently watching the result "is straining eye and ear to ascertain whether his wishes will be gratified by our quarelling. Leave him in uncertainty. Jack, be on your guard; you are at this moment on the verge of ruin; but I can-I will save you, and to-morrow shall tell how." He wrung my hand, and left me more astonished than I can describe. I came out, dying for an opportunity to mark my dislike of Aylmer, and I returned with a brotherly regard for that very man, whom, but a few minutes back, I was anxious to assassinate as gentlemen do the thing.

I entered my room a sadder man by far than when I perambulated the court-yard with an impending duel on my hands. Something in Aylmer's warning to me, and his manner to the Dalys, raised up a thousand teazing and alarming doubts. What was the danger-whence was the blow to come-and how was it to be avoided? I could not even VOL. I.-13.

conjecture, and I wished earnestly for morning to arrive, when I should meet my father's friend, and learn the whole. For a while this uncertainty annoyed me, but gradually apprehensions wore away, and other and softer feelings succeeded.

Never on a lovelier night did a young ensign peep from a barrack-window. The moon-the beautiful moon, round as a drum-head, was shining gloriously. The river murmured sweetly, the breeze had sighed its last, and not a sound was heard but the barking of the village dogs, and measured tread of the sentry walking "his lonely round" beneath me. "There is a dangerous silence in that hour," singeth my Lord Byron, and so have all poets sung, from William Shakspeare to Walter Scott; for it appears,

"The silver light which, hallowing tree and tower,
Sheds beauty and deep softness o'er the whole,
Breathes also to the heart, and o'er it throws

A loving languor, which is not repose."

All this I felt, no doubt; for though wisdom had cried in the street, I was, alas! insensible of her warning.

Confound poetry and old houses! The chink in the wainscot, originally so limited in its dimensions as to barely permit a billet to slip through, had gradually enlarged until "Lalla Rookh" found room enough to pass; daily the woodwork became more rickety and infirm; and the pannel at last dropped out altogether!

This was an unfortunate accident, and what was to be done? I proposed that we should consult a carpenter; but Lucy, an older soldier than I, prudently explained the danger; we might be brought in for barrack damages, and therefore agreed, that for our short time we would prop it up as we best could, and keep the misfortune to ourselves. Yet, as it turned out afterward, it would have been better had we called in the carpenter.

I said that Captain O'Moore had kindly undertaken to in struct me in piquet; but I found him an expensive master, as he would only play for money, he being an enemy to misspending time. Now, Lucy suggested, that she, though not an adept, was partial to that game-we could play togetherand doubtless, a mutual improvement would bless our efforts. As a companion, Lucy was infinitely preferable; and, as a teacher, greatly cheaper. The captain played for half-crowns, and won invariably. Poor Lucy wagered nothing but kisses, and regularly rose a looser.

This is a cursed fascination attending play that ruins half the world. I, God knows! have proved it. Games of chance are bad-hells destructive-but piquet I look upon as doubly dangerous-it is a quiet, scientific, sentimental sort of business, and never played comfortably but in sober tête-àtête. Captain Daily was an early man, and his lady said a thousand times, that one hour's sleep before midnight was worth a dozen after it. Lucy and I were no sluggards; and, in the innocency of our hearts, thought there could be no harm in playing a sober game ourselves. It was but stepping through the pannel; nobody would be the wiser; and if we made mistakes, there was no critical eye to comment on our blundering.

Nor did we determine on this course of cards without due consideration. At a late hour, lights, if seen in either of our apartments, might occasion observation. This, young ladies, no matter how conscious they might be of integrity, of intention, should eschew. Lucy, to do her justice, said so; and to avoid giving any handle to idle gossip, discovered that candles were unnecessary, for, as we played on honour, moonlight would do.

God help us! little did we imagine how rudely our harmless amusement would be interrupted! How our piquetplaying was discovered I never ascertained, as the secret of the panel was only known to Lucy and myself; but no doubt, some unlucky mal-adresse caused our ruin.

It had struck two, and I remember the deal was Lucy's. Suddenly we heard. a whispering without-we listened-it ceased.-Pshaw! it was only the servants retiring to Mount Rascal, as they termed the garret. It was no illusion. Af ter a brief pause Captain Daly thundered at the door, and demanded admittance. Of course I prepared to abdicate: though easily resolved, this was more difficult to accomplish; for, by accident or treachery, Mother Daily had gained an entrance into my apartments, and like a determined warrior, threw herself into the breach-I mean the broken panel.

Mrs.

Meanwhile, the lock of Lucy's door yielded, and an angry father and Captain O'Moore presented themselves. Daly would have joined the company, but in the essay she stuck fast in the orifice, and after various and painful efforts was obliged to abandon the attempt, and unite herself with the main body, by the customary means of entrance.

Alas! everything appeared against us. Piquet by moonlight was considered most irregular-O'Moore laughed at