“Well,” says the Colonel, “I haven’t done much good by it. There it stands. The people I let it to have cleared out (which wasn’t true), and I’ll sell it cheap.” (He’d sold it long ago, and the people living in it were big wholesale tailors.)
“So the old place is for sale?” says the Squire.
“Yes; will you buy it?”
“I, my dear fellow! I’m a pauper.”
“Of course, of course; I forgot,” says the old Colonel. “Well, I’ve come to cheer you up a bit. I suppose you never touch the pictures now?”
“No, no,” says the Squire, “not for a long time. I haven’t had any money to lose.”
“I should like to have had a quiet game with you for auld lang syne,” says the Colonel. “Shall I ring for a pack?”
“I should like it. I should like to have one more turn with you, old friend, before I die; but—but——”
“Oh, come, it’ll do you good—cheer you up; and as to the stakes—well, we’ll play for silver, just to make the game interesting.”
After a lot of coaxing the old Squire consented, and the Colonel got the cards, and pulled a table up to the bed, and they began to play.