All
this meant that supper was ready. It was brought into the room.
Gaming has one advantage, it gives you an appetite; that is to say,
so long as you have a chance remaining. The Duke had thousands; for
at present his resources were unimpaired, and he was exhausted by
the constant attention and anxiety of five hours. He passed over the
delicacies and went to the side-table, and began cutting himself some
cold roast beef. Tom Cogit ran up, not to his Grace, but to the Baron,
to announce the shocking fact that the Duke of St. James was enduring
great trouble; and then the Baron asked his Grace to permit Mr. Cogit to
serve him. Our hero devoured--we use the word advisedly, as fools say
in the House of Commons--he devoured the roast beef, and rejecting the
Hermitage with disgust, asked for porter.
They set to again fresh as eagles. At six o'clock accounts were so
complicated that they stopped to make up their books. Each played with
his memoranda and pencil at his side. Nothing fatal had yet happened.
The Duke owed Lord Dice about five thousand pounds, and Temple Grace
owed him as many hundreds.
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