just concluded, being nettled at the imperious airs of superiority which
that roysterer assumed, mistaking for effeminacy Jasper's elaborate
dandyism, and not recognizing in the bravo's elegant proportions the
tiger-like strength of which, in truth, that tiger-like suppleness should
have warned him, Dolly Poole provoked a quarrel, and being himself a
stout fellow, nor unaccustomed to athletic exercises, began to spar; the
next moment he was at the other end of the room full sprawl on the floor;
and two minutes afterwards, the quarrel made up by conciliating
banqueters, with every bone in his skin seeming still to rattle, he was
generously blubbering out that he never bore malice, and shaking hands
with Jasper Losely as if he had found a benefactor. But now to the
dialogue.

JASPER.--"Yes, Poole, my hearty, as you say, that fellow trumping my best
club lost me the last rubber. There's no certainty in whist, if one has
a spoon for a partner."

POOLE.--"No certainty in every rubber, but next to certainty in the long
run, when a man plays as well as you do, Mr. Losely. Your winnings to-
night must have been pretty large, though you had a bad partner almost
every hand; pretty large, eh?"

JASPER (carelessly).--"Nothing to talk of,--a few ponies!"

POOLE.--"More than a few; I should know."

JASPER.--"Why? You did not play after the first rubber."

POOLE.--"No, when I saw your play on that first rubber, I cut out, and
bet on you; and very grateful to you I am. Still you would win more with