'Gaming has one advantage--it gives you an appetite; that is to
say, so long as you have a chance remaining. The duke had
thousands,--for at present his resources were unimpaired, and he
was exhausted by the constant attention and anxiety of five
hours. He passed over the delicacies, and went to the side-
table, and began cutting himself some cold roast beef. Tom Cogit
ran up, not to his Grace, but to the baron, to announce the
shocking fact, that the Duke of St James was enduring great
trouble; and then the baron asked his Grace to permit Mr Cogit to
serve him.

'Our hero devoured--we use the word advisedly, as fools say in
the House of Commons--he devoured the roast beef, and rejecting
the hermitage with disgust, asked for porter.

'They set to again, fresh as eagles. At six o'clock, accounts
were so complicated, that they stopped to make up their books.
Each played with his memorandums and pencil at his side. Nothing
fatal had yet happened. The duke owed Lord Dice about L5000, and
Temple Grace owed him as many hundreds. Lord Castlefort also was
his debtor to the tune of 750, and the baron was in his books,
but slightly.

'Every half-hour they had a new pack of cards, and threw the used
ones on the floor. All this time Tom Cogit did nothing but snuff
the candles, stir the fire, bring them a new pack, and
occasionally made a tumbler for them.

'At eight o'clock the duke's situation was worsened. The run was