that he had not seen who staked the money, an offer to stop the
play, and a suggestion that I should find it very difficult to
prove it was my stake. The "plant" between the two women was
evident. The whole thing was a systematically-planned robbery,
and very possibly the croupier was a confederate. I detected the
two women in communication, and I told them that I should change
my place to the other side of the table where I would trouble
them not to come. They took the hint very mildly, and could
afford to do so, for they had got my money. The affair was
very neatly managed, and would succeed in nearly every case,
especially if the croupier is, as is most probable, always on the
side of the ladies.'


HOMBOURG.


`In 1842 Hombourg was an obscure village, consisting of the
castle of the Landgraf, and of a few hundred houses which in the
course of ages had clustered around it. Few would have known of
its existence except from the fact of its being the capital of
the smallest of European countries. Its inhabitants lived poor
and contented--the world forgetting, by the world forgot. It
boasted only of one inn--the "Aigle"--which in summer was
frequented by a few German families, who came to live cheaply and
to drink the waters of a neighbouring mineral spring. That same
year two French brothers of the name of Blanc arrived at
Frankfort. They were men of a speculative turn, and a recent and
somewhat daring speculation in France, connected with the old
semaphore telegraph, had rendered it necessary for them to