staff back from Gwynplaine's shoulder, and drawing it back, held it out straight, in an attitude of command: a constable's attitude well understood in those days by the whole people, and which expressed the following order :-" Let this man, and no other, follow me. The rest remain where they are. Silence !"

No curious followers allowed. taste for such arrests.

In all times the police have had a This description of seizure was termed

sequestration of the person.

The wapentake turned round in one motion, like a piece of mechanism revolving on its own pivot, and with grave and magisterial step proceeded towards the door of the Green Box.

Gwynplaine looked at Ursus. The latter went through a pantomime composed thus: he shrugged his shoulders, placed both elbows close to his hips, with his hands out, and knitted his brows into chevrons; all which signifies,—we must submit to the unknown.

Gwynplaine looked at Dea. She was in her dream. She was still smiling. He put the ends of his fingers to his lips, and sent her an unutterable kiss.

Ursus, relieved of some portion of his terror, now that the wapentake's back was turned, seized the moment to whisper in Gwynplaine's

ear,

"On your life, do not speak until you are questioned."

Gwynplaine, with the same care to make no noise as he would have taken in a sick room, took his hat and cloak from the hook on the partition, wrapped himself up to the eyes in the cloak, and pushed down his hat over his forehead. Not having been to bed, he had his working clothes still on, and his leather esclavin round his neck. Once more he looked at Dea. Having reached the door, the wapentake raised his staff, and began to descend the steps; then Gwynplaine set out as if that man was dragging him by an invisible chain. Ursus watched Gwynplaine leave the Green Box. At that moment the wolf gave a low growl, but Ursus silenced him, and whispered, "He is coming back."

In the yard, Master Nicless was stemming, with servile and imperious gestures, the cries of terror raised by Vinos and Fibi, as in great distress they watched Gwynplaine led away, and the mourningcoloured garb and the iron staff of the wapentake.

These two girls were like petrifactions: they were in the attitude of stalactites. Govicum, stunned, was looking open-mouthed out of a window.

The wapentake preceded Gwynplaine by a few steps, never turning

round or looking at him, in that icy ease which is given by the knowledge that one is the law.

In death-like silence they both crossed the yard, went through the dark tap-room, and reached the street. A few passers-by had collected about the inn door, and the justice of the quorum was there at the head of a squad of police. The idlers, stupefied and without breathing a word, opened out and stood aside, with English discipline, at sight of the constable's staff. The wapentake moved off in the direction of the narrow street, then called the Little Strand, running by the Thames; and Gwynplaine, with the justice of the quorum's men in ranks on each side, like a double hedge, pale, without a motion except that of his steps, wrapped in his cloak as in a shroud, was leaving the inn further and further behind him as he followed the taciturn man, like a statue following a spectre.

(To be continued.)

BÉZIQUE.

YEAR ago the game of bézique was scarcely played in this country. All of a sudden a bézique epidemic took possession of the sober inhabitants of these isles, and the complaint is still raging with great virulence. We propose to devote a few pages to bézique, in hopes of alleviating some of the more dangerous symptoms of béziquemanie, just as in the fourteenth century music was played to those afflicted with the dancing mania.

It has been before remarked in the pages of The Gentleman's Magazine that games spring into existence no one knows exactly how; and in accordance with this rule the origin of bézique is a matter of speculation. Some are of opinion that it is derived from a game called sixty-six, which is popular in Italy and Germany; but the resemblance between bézique and sixty-six is not so striking as, in our opinion, to warrant this derivation. We have heard the invention of bézique as a new game ascribed to the Swiss, the French, and the Americans, but without any sufficient reason.

If we refer to other games, we shall often find that the best of them are developments of previously existing games. Thus croquet is in all probability a development of pall-mall, and whist seems to be a compound of all that is best out of the games of trump, ruff, whisk and swabbers, ruff and honours, and slam. We are inclined to believe in a similar history of bézique, and to argue that it is a compromise between the games of brusquembille, l'homme de brou, and briscan or brisque, with some original additions.

The game of brusquembille was played formerly by two, but now usually by three, four, or five persons. When two or four played, a pack of thirty-two cards was used; when three or five played, two sevens, one black and one red, were thrown out, reducing the pack to thirty. The reason of this was that cards should not remain over at the end of the deal. When four played, two were partners against the other two.

The cards ranked as at bézique, the aces and tens (called brusquembilles) were the best cards. The highest card of the same suit won the trick; trumps won other suits.

Each player had three cards dealt him, the three being dealt together, and not one by one; the next or top of the stock was turned for trumps, and left partly under the stock. Then the eldest hand played any card out of those dealt him, and so on with the other hands in turn, it not being obligatory to follow suit, and the players also being allowed to trump though holding a card of the suit led.

The winner of the trick took a card from the top of the stock, and the others after him, restoring the number of cards in hand to three as at first. The winner of the first trick might exchange the turn-up for a trump in his hand, instead of taking the top card. This, however, was not the original game. After the first trick was won, and a fresh card taken by each player, another trick was played in the same way, the last winner having the lead; and so on until all the stock was exhausted, the person who took the last card having to take the turn-up or the card exchanged for it.

The cards were played out to the end in the same way, only in the three last tricks no fresh cards could be taken in, and the players were obliged to follow suit or to trump.

All this is very similar to bézique. The mode of scoring, however, was different.

The player of the ace of trumps was paid two all round by each player. The player of an ace also received two all round; but if the ace did not win the trick he had to pay two all round.

The ten received or paid one all round in a similar manner.

A certain stake (agreed on) was put down by each player at the beginning of the game, to form a pool. After the hands were played out, each player examined his tricks, and counted how many "points" he had. The points were counted as follows: for each ace, 11; for each ten, 10; for each king, 4; for each queen, 3; and for each knave, 2. The player who had the most points in his tricks won the pool.

L'homme de brou was played by four persons, two against two. The pack was a piquet pack of thirty-two cards. The rank of the cards was as before.

or by three at a time. At this game there

Eight cards were dealt to each player by two
The last card was turned up for trumps.

was no stock to draw from. It was not allowed to revoke, and the tricks were played as at whist, except that the ten ranked after the ace.

The score accrued from marriages and from certain points in the tricks won. If a player had dealt him the king and queen of trumps, he scored, or rather received from a box of counters, 40; king, queen,

and knave of trumps, (also called a marriage) 60; king and queen of a plain suit, 20; king, queen, and knave of a plain suit, 30. These marriages could be declared when either partner won a trick, and when declared, the requisite number of counters was taken from the box.

Marriages could also be made in the tricks, and scored to the winners. Thus if two partners played king and queen of trumps in the same trick and won it, they scored 80; if they lost the trick, they had 80 scored against them. Similarly, king, queen, and knave of trumps in a trick scored 120 to the winners; king and queen of a plain suit, 40; king, queen, and knave of a plain suit, 60. These marriages were paid for by the adverse side out of any score they might have received from the box. If they had not enough they owed the balance.

At the end of the hand, each side scored the points in their tricks as at brusquembille, the cards having the same values; and these points were added to those already scored for marriages.

The game was played 300 up; if the other side had more than 150, it was a single game; if less than 150, it was a double game. If the other side had nothing, it was a quadruple game; and a quadruple game could be won by sending back the adversaries if they had to pay a marriage. Thus, suppose A and C (partners) had 270 points, and made a marriage of 40; if B and D had only scored 30, they could not pay 40. They would owe ten, and would lose a quadruple game.

The players were provided with a box of counters. At the end of the hand they helped themselves from the box to the required number for the points; and if they owed any marriages, paid them from the counters that thus accrued to them. But when the game was advanced, and the side had enough counters in hand to pay a marriage, the marriage was paid for at the time of declaring. This somewhat inconvenient arrangement was necessary, as the points made in play and marriages dealt originally were paid for from the box; the marriages made in play from one side to the other, and not out of the box.

If one side won all the tricks in one hand, they scored a treble game, and (with certain exceptions) the hand counted as a game by itself, and did not affect previous scores.

It is to be observed that in this game the scoring was by tens only. Thus, if A and C made 51, 52, 53, or 54 points in one hand, they would only count 50; but if they made 55, 56, 57, 58, or 59, they counted 60. But in a hand that won the game, the full number of