Penny Dreadful Multipack Vol. 1 (Illustrated. Annotated. 'Wagner The Wehr-Wolf,' 'Varney The Vampire,' 'The Mysteries of London Vol. 1' + Bonus Features) (Penny Dreadful Multipacks) (208 page)

THE LESSON INTERRUPTED

THE moment the trial of Richard Markham was concluded, Sir Rupert
Harborough and Mr. Chichester bade a cold and hasty adieu to Mr. Talbot, and
left the court together.
    They wended their way up the Old Bailey, turned into Newgate
Street, and thence proceeded down Butcher-hall Lane towards Bartholomew
Close;  for in that large dreary Square did Mr. Chichester now occupy a cheap
lodging.
    This lodging consisted of a couple of small and
ill-furnished rooms on the second hour. When the two gentlemen arrived there.
it way past five o'clock - for the trial had lasted the entire day - and a
dirty cloth was laid for dinner in the front apartment. Black-handled knives
and forks, a japanned pepper-box, pewter saltcellar and mustard pot, and common
white plates with a blue edge, constituted the "service." The dinner
itself was equally humble -consisting of mutton-chops. and potatoes, flanked by
a pot of porter.
    The baronet and the fashionable gentleman took their seats
in silence, and partook of the meal without much appetite. There was a damp
upon their spirits: they were not so utterly depraved as to be altogether
unmindful of the detestable part they had played towards Markham; and their own
affairs were moreover in a desperate condition.
    A slip-shod, dirty, familiar girl cleared away the dinner
things; and the gentlemen then took to gin and-water and cigars. For some minutes
they smoked in silence ; till at length the baronet, stamping his foot
impatiently upon the floor exclaimed, " My God! Chichester, is nothing to
be done ?"
    "I really don't know," answered that individual.
    "You heard how deucedly I got exposed to-day in the
witness-box; and after that I should not dare show up at the west-end for weeks
and months to come - even if the sheriff's  officers weren't looking out
for me."
    "Well, something must be done," observed the
baronet. "Here am I, playing at hide-and-seek as well as you - all my
horses sold - my furniture seized - my carriages made away with - my plate
pawned - and not a guinea  -not a guinea left!"
    " What should you say to a trip into the country?"
demanded Chichester, after a pause. "London is too hot for both of us - at
least for the present; indeed my surprise is that we were not arrested on those
infernal bills, coming out of the court. But, as I was saying - a trip into the
country might do more good. To be sure this is no time for the watering places:
we might however, pay a visit to Hastings, Bath, and Cheltenham on a
venture."
    "And what could we do for ourselves there?"
    "Why - pick up flats, to be sure !"
    "You know, Chichester, that I am not able to  work
the cards and dice as you can."
    "Then you must learn, as I did."
    "And who will teach me ?"
    "Why - myself, to be sure! Could you have a better
master than Arthur Chichester?"
    "But it would take so long to understand all these
manoeuvres - I should never have the patience."
    "Oh! nonsense, Harborough. Come what do you say? Three
days' practice, and we will be off ?"
    " But the money - the funds to move with?" cried
the baronet, impatiently. "I am literally reduced to my last guinea."
    "Oh! as for that," returned Chichester, "I
will engage to get a twenty pound note from my father to-morrow; and with that
supply we can safely start off on our expedition."
    "Well - if you can rely upon doing this," observed
the baronet, "we will put your plan into execution. So let us lose no
time; but please to give me my first lesson."
    "That's what I call business," cried Chichester,
rising from his seat and drawing the curtains, while the baronet lighted the
two tallow candles that adorned the wooden mantel-piece.
    Chichester locked the door of the room, and then produced
from his writing-desk the necessary implements of a gambler - packs of cards,
dice-boxes, and dice.
    Having reseated himself, he took up a pair of dice and a
box, and said, "Now, my dear fellow, be a good boy, and learn your lesson
well. You will soon meet with your reward."
    "I am all attention," observed the baronet.
    "In the first place I shall show you how to
 
secure
," continued Chichester;
"and as you know the game of
 
Hazard
 
well enough, I need say but, little more on that head. There are
two ways of
 
securing
. The first is to hold one of the dice between the fore and middle
fingers, or the middle and third fingers, against the side of the box, so that
one finger must cover the top of the dice - in this way, you see."

    "I understand, said me baronet,
attentively watching the proceedings of his companion, who by certain clever
and adroit manipulations with the dice-box, illustrated his oral descriptions.
    "This system is not so easy as the second, which I
shall presently show you," continued Chichester; "because the die
must be kept cleverly inside the box, so as not to be seen. The second way of
 
securing
 
is by taking hold of one of the
dice by the little finger, and keeping it firm against the palm of the hand
while you shake the box, so as to be able to drop it skilfully upon the table
at the proper moment, when it will seem as if it came from the box along with
the other. This is the way."

    "I shall soon understand," said the
baronet "Of course by being able to secure one die, you may make it turn
up any number you choose."
    "When you mean to practise this dodge," continued
Chichester, "call five for
 
a main
; because you can
 
secure
 
the four, and there is only the six on the loose die that can come
up against you. If you have a good stake to get,
 
secure
 
a five every time because when
the
 
main
 
is six to five, or seven to five,
or eight to five, or nine to five, or ten to five, you
 
must
 
win every time, because you can't
possibly throw out while time five is
 
secured
."
    "But will not the ear tell the
 
pigeon
 
that there is only one die
rattling in the box?" demanded the baronet.
    "Look at this box," exclaimed Chichester. "It
has two rims cut inside, near the bottom: the one die shaking against them
produces the sound of two dice."
    "Are there not some peculiarities about these dice
?" asked Sir Rupert, pointing to a pair which Chichester had placed apart
from the rest.
    "Yes  -those are
 
unequal dice
, and are so well made that no
one, except a regular sharper, could detect them. They are bigger at one end
than the other, and the sixes are placed on the smaller squares, because you
must play with these dice to win upon high numbers, which are on those smaller
squares. The dice will in nine cases out of ten fall upon the larger squares, and
thus show the high numbers uppermost."

    "And these dice?" I enquired the
baronet taking up two others.
    "Loaded ones," replied Chichester. "These are
to throw low; and so the two sides which have got four and five on them are
loaded.

    "How are they loaded ?" asked Sir
Rupert.
    "The corner pip of the four side, next to the five
side, is bored very neatly to a certain depth; the same is done to the corner
pip of the five side adjoining the four side. Thus the two holes, so bored,
meet each other at right angles. One of the holes is covered over with some
strong cement; quicksilver is then poured in; and the other hole is covered
over with the cement. The spots are blackened ; and your dice are ready for
use. These being intended to throw low, you must call a main and take the odds
accordingly."
    "Well," said the baronet, "I think I can now
safely say that I know enough of the elements of your grammar to enable me to
practise myself.  Let us devote half an hour to the working of
cards."
    "The ways of managing the cards," said Chichester,
taking up a pack, and shuffling them "are numerous. These, for instance,
are
 
Longs and Shorts
. All the cards above the eight, are the least thing longer than
those below it. I have a machine which was invented on purpose to cut them
accurately. Nothing under an eight can be cut, you see, with these cards,
lengthways."
    "And that pack so carefully wrapped up in the
paper?"
    "Oh! these are my
 
Concaves
 
and
 
Convexes
. All from the two to the seven
are cut concave; and all from the eight to the king are cut convex. By cutting
the pack breadthways a convex card is cut; by cutting it lengthways, a concave
one is secured."

  "I have often beard of
 
the bridge
," said Sir Rupert;
"what does that mean?"
    "Oh!
 
the bridge
 
is simply and easily done,"
replied Chichester, shuffling the pack which he had in his hand. " You see
it is nothing but slightly curving a card, and introducing it carelessly into
the pack. Shuffle the cards as your opponent will, you are sure to be able to
cut the bridged one."