I turned the corner of Piccadilly; fair flight was hopeless, and I took
refuge in that snug asylum on the right hand of St. James's Street,
which has since expanded into a palace. I stoutly battled the foe, for I
"took no note of time" during the next day and night; and when at last I
walked forth into the air, I found that I had relieved myself of the
burden of three-fourths of my reversion. A weak mind on such an occasion
would have cursed the cards, and talked of taking care of the fragment
of his property; but mine was of the higher order, and I determined on
revenge. I had my revenge, and saw my winners ruined. They had their
consolation, and at the close of a six months' campaign saw me walk into
the streets a beggar. I grew desperate, and was voted dangerous. I
realized the charge by fastening on a noble lord who had been one of the
most adroit in pigeoning me. His life was "too valuable to his country,"
or himself, to allow him to meet a fellow whose life was of no use to
any living thing; and through patriotism and the fear of being shot, he
kept out of my way. I raged, threatened to post his lordship, and was in
the very act of writing out the form of the placard declaring the noble
heir of the noble house of ---- a cheat and a scoundrel, when by the
twopenny-post I received a notice from the Horse Guards that I was on
that day to appear in the Gazette as an ensign in his majesty's ----
regiment, then serving in the Peninsula, with orders to join without
delay. This was enough from his lordship, and was certainly better for
me than running the chance of damages in the King's Bench, for provoking
his majesty's subjects to a breach of the peace.

I was gazetted, tried on my uniform before the mirror, entirely approved
of my appearance, and wrote my last letter to my last flirt. The
Portsmouth mail was to start at eight. I had an hour to spare, and
sallied into the street. I met an honest-faced old acquaintance as much
at a loss as myself to slay the hour. We were driven by a shower into