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'Look sharp with that candle,' said the voice; 'it's as much as I can do
to see the pips on the cards as it is; and get this shutter closed as
quick as you can, will you? Your beer will be the worse for to-night's
thunder I expect. - Game! Seven-and-sixpence to me, old Isaac. Hand
over.'
'Do you hear, Nell, do you hear them?' whispered the old man again,
with increased earnestness, as the money chinked upon the table.
'I haven't seen such a storm as this,' said a sharp cracked voice of
most disagreeable quality, when a tremendous peal of thunder had
died away, 'since the night when old Luke Withers won thirteen times
running on the red. We all said he had the Devil's luck and his own,
and as it was the kind of night for the Devil to be out and busy, I
suppose he was looking over his shoulder, if anybody could have seen
him.'
'
Ah!' returned the gruff voice; 'for all old Luke's winning through thick
and thin of late years, I remember the time when he was the
unluckiest and unfortunatest of men. He never took a dice-box in his
hand, or held a card, but he was plucked, pigeoned, and cleaned out
completely.'
'
Do you hear what he says?' whispered the old man. 'Do you hear
that, Nell?' The child saw with astonishment and alarm that his whole
appearance had undergone a complete change. His face was flushed
and eager, his eyes were strained, his teeth set, his breath came short
and thick, and the hand he laid upon her arm trembled so violently
that she shook beneath its grasp.
'
Bear witness,' he muttered, looking upward, 'that I always said it;
that I knew it, dreamed of it, felt it was the truth, and that it must be
so! What money have we, Nell? Come! I saw you with money
yesterday. What money have we? Give it to me.'
'
No, no, let me keep it, grandfather,' said the frightened child. 'Let us
go away from here. Do not mind the rain. Pray let us go.'
'
Give it to me, I say,' returned the old man fiercely. 'Hush, hush, don't
cry, Nell. If I spoke sharply, dear, I didn't mean it. It's for thy good. I
have wronged thee, Nell, but I will right thee yet, I will indeed. Where
is the money?'
'
Do not take it,' said the child. 'Pray do not take it, dear. For both our
sakes let me keep it, or let me throw it away - better let me throw it
away, than you take it now. Let us go; do let us go.'
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