Part 11 (1/2)

-65--”This will never do,” said Oaklands to me, as, for the third time, we were obliged to turn round and cover our eyes, to avoid being blinded by the cloud of dust which a strong east wind was driving directly in our faces; ”there is nothing in the world tires one like walking against a high wind. A quarter to three,” added he, taking out his watch. ”I have an appointment at three o'clock. Will you walk with me? I must turn up here.”

I a.s.sented; and, turning a corner, we proceeded up a narrow street, where the houses, in a great measure, protected us from the wind. After walking some little distance in silence Oaklands again addressed me:--

”Frank, did you ever play at billiards?”

I replied in the negative.

”It's a game I've rather a liking for,” continued he; ”we have a table at Heathfield, and my father and I often played when the weather was too bad to get out. I used to beat the old gentleman easily though at last, till I found out one day he did not half like it, so then I was obliged to make shocking mistakes, every now and then, to give him a chance of winning; anybody else would have found me out in a minute, for I am the worst hand in the world at playing the hypocrite, but my father is the most unsuspicious creature breathing. Oh! he is such a dear old man.

You must come and stay with us, Frank, and learn to know him and love him--he'd delight in you--you are just the sort of fellow he likes.”

”There's nothing I should like better,” answered I, ”if I can get leave from head-quarters; but why did you want to know if I played at billiards?”

”Oh, I have been playing a good deal lately with c.u.mberland, who seems very fond of the game, and I'm going to meet him at the rooms in F----Street to-day; so I thought, if you knew anything of the game, you might like to come with me.”

”c.u.mberland is a first-rate player, isn't he?” asked I.

”No, I do not think so: we play very evenly, I should say; but we are to have a regular match to-day, to decide which is the best player.”

”Do you play for money?”

”Just a trifle to give an interest to the game, nothing more,” replied Oaklands; ”our match to-day is for a five-pound note.”

I must confess that I could not help feeling extremely uneasy at the information Oaklands had just given me. The recollection of what Coleman had said concerning some gaming affair in which c.u.mberland was supposed -66--to have behaved dishonourably, combined with a sort of general notion, which seemed to prevail, that he was not exactly a safe person to have much to do with, might in some degree account for this; still I always felt a kind of instinctive dislike and mistrust of c.u.mberland, which led me to avoid him as much as possible on my own account. In the present instance, when the danger seemed to threaten my friend, this feeling a.s.sumed a vague character of fear; ”and yet,” reasoned I with myself, ”what is there to dread? Oaklands has plenty of money at his command; besides, he says they play pretty evenly, so that he must win nearly as often as c.u.mberland; then, he is older than I am, and of course must be better able to judge what is right or wrong for him to do.” However, remembering the old adage, that ”lookers-on see most of the game,” I determined, for once, to accompany him; I therefore told him that, though I could not play myself, it would be an amus.e.m.e.nt to me to watch them, and that, if he had no objection, I would go with him, to which proposition he willingly agreed. As we turned into F----Street we were joined by c.u.mberland, who, as I fancied, did not seem best pleased at seeing me, nor did the scowl which pa.s.sed across his brow, on hearing I was to accompany them, tend to lessen this impression. He did not, however, attempt to make any opposition to the plan, merely remarking that, as I did not play myself, he thought I should find it rather dull.

After proceeding about half way down the street c.u.mberland stopped in front of a small cigar-shop, and, turning towards a private door, on which was a bra.s.s plate with the word ”Billiards” engraved on it, knocked, and was admitted. Leading the way up a dark, narrow staircase, he opened a green baize door at the top, and ushered us into a tolerably large room, lighted by a sky-light, immediately under which stood the billiard-table. On one side was placed a rack, containing a formidable arrangement of cues, maces, etc., while at the farther end two small dials, with a bra.s.s hand in the centre for the purpose of marking the scores of the different players, were fixed against the wall. As we entered, two persons who were apparently performing certain intricate manoeuvres with the b.a.l.l.s by way of practice immediately left off playing and came towards us. One of these, a little man, with small keen grey eyes, and a quick restless manner, which involuntarily reminded one of a hungry rat, rejoiced in the name of ”Slipsey,” and proved to be the billiard-marker; his -67--companion was a tall stout personage, with a very red face, rather handsome features, large white teeth, and a profusion of bushy whiskers, moustaches, and imperial of a dark-brown colour. His dress consisted of a blue military frock coat, which he wore open, to display a crimson plush waistcoat and thick gold watch-chain, while his costume was completed by a pair of black and white plaid trousers, made in the extreme of the fas.h.i.+on, with a broad stripe down the outside of the leg. This personage swaggered up to c.u.mberland, and, with a manner composed of impertinent familiarity and awkwardness, addressed him as follows:--

”How d'ye do, Mr. c.u.mberland? hope I see you well, sir. Terrible bad day, gentlemen, don't you think? dusty enough to pepper the devil, as we used to say in Spain, hey? Going to have a touch at the rolley-polleys, I suppose.”

”We shall be disturbing you, Captain Spicer,” said c.u.mberland, who, I thought, had tact enough to perceive that his friend's free and easy manner was the reverse of acceptable to Oaklands.

”Not at all, not at all,” was the reply; ”it was so terrible unpleasant out of doors that, as I happened to be going by, I thought I'd look in to see if there was anything up; and as the table was lying idle I got knocking the b.a.l.l.s about with little Slipsey here, just to keep one's hand in, you know.”

”Well, then, we had better begin at once,” said c.u.mberland, to which Oaklands a.s.sented rather coldly.

As he was pulling off his greatcoat he whispered to me, ”If that man stays here long, I shall never be able to stand it: his familiarity is unbearable; there is nothing tires me so much as being obliged to be civil to that kind of people”.

”How is it to be?” said c.u.mberland, ”whoever wins four games out of seven is the conqueror, wasn't that it?”

”Yes, I believe so,” was Oaklands' reply.

”A very sporting match, 'pon my life,” observed the Captain; ”are the stakes high?”

”Oh no! a mere nothing: five, or ten pounds, did we say?” inquired c.u.mberland.

”Just as you like,” replied Oaklands, carelessly.

”Ten pounds, by all means, I should say; five pounds is so shocking small, don't you think? not worth playing for?” said the Captain.

”Ten let it be then,” said c.u.mberland; and after a few preliminaries they began playing.

-68--I did not understand the game sufficiently to be able to give a detailed account of the various chances of the match, nor would it probably greatly interest the reader were I to do so. Suffice it, then, to state, that, as far as I could judge, Oaklands, disgusted by the vulgar impertinence of the Captain (if Captain he was), thought the whole thing a bore, and played carelessly. The consequence was, that c.u.mberland won the first two games. This put Oaklands upon his mettle, and he won the third and fourth; the fifth was hardly contested, Oaklands evidently playing as well as he was able, c.u.mberland also taking pains; but it struck me as singular that, in each game, _his_ play seemed to depend upon that of his adversary. When Oaklands first began c.u.mberland certainly beat him, but not by many; and, as he became interested, and his play improved, so in the same ratio did c.u.mberland's keep pace with it. Of course, there might be nothing in this; the same causes that affected the one might influence the other; but the idea having once occurred to me, I determined to watch the proceedings still more closely, in order, if possible, to make up my mind on the point.