Hush!' rejoined the old man laying his hand upon her mouth,

Fortune will not bear chiding. We must not reproach her, or she

shuns us; I have found that out.'

Now, mister,' said the stout man. 'If you're not coming yourself, give

us the cards, will you?'

'I am coming,' cried the old man. 'Sit thee down, Nell, sit thee down

and look on. Be of good heart, it's all for thee - all - every penny. I

don't tell them, no, no, or else they wouldn't play, dreading the chance

that such a cause must give me. Look at them. See what they are and

what thou art. Who doubts that we must win!'

'The gentleman has thought better of it, and isn't coming,' said Isaac,

making as though he would rise from the table. 'I'm sorry the

gentleman's daunted - nothing venture, nothing have - but the

gentleman knows best.'

'Why I am ready. You have all been slow but me,' said the old man. 'I

wonder who is more anxious to begin than I.'

As he spoke he drew a chair to the table; and the other three closing

round it at the same time, the game commenced.

The child sat by, and watched its progress with a troubled mind.

Regardless of the run of luck, and mindful only of the desperate

passion which had its hold upon her grandfather, losses and gains

were to her alike. Exulting in some brief triumph, or cast down by a

defeat, there he sat so wild and restless, so feverishly and intensely

anxious, so terribly eager, so ravenous for the paltry stakes, that she

could have almost better borne to see him dead. And yet she was the

innocent cause of all this torture, and he, gambling with such a

savage thirst for gain as the most insatiable gambler never felt, had

not one selfish thought!

On the contrary, the other three - knaves and gamesters by their trade

while intent upon their game, were yet as cool and quiet as if every

virtue had been centered in their breasts. Sometimes one would look

up to smile to another, or to snuff the feeble candle, or to glance at the

lightning as it shot through the open window and fluttering curtain, or

to listen to some louder peal of thunder than the rest, with a kind of

momentary impatience, as if it put him out; but there they sat, with a

calm indifference to everything but their cards, perfect philosophers in

appearance, and with no greater show of passion or excitement than if

they had been made of stone.

The storm had raged for full three hours; the lightning had grown

fainter and less frequent; the thunder, from seeming to roll and break

The Old Curiosity Shop