'In short,I have plucked the old baronet as never baronet was plucked before;I have scarce left him the stump of a quill;I have got promissory notes in his hand to the amount of--if you like round numbers,say,thirty thousand pounds,safely deposited in my portable strong-box,alias double-clasped pocket-book.I leave this ruinous old rat-hole early on to-morrow,for two reasons--first,I do not want to play with Sir Arthur deeper than I think his security,that is,his money,or his money's worth,would warrant;and,secondly,because I am safer a hundred miles from Sir Arthur than in the house with him.Look you,my worthy,I tell you this between ourselves--I may be wrong,but,by G--,I am as sure as that Iam now living,that Sir A--attempted to poison me last night;so much for old friendship on both sides.
'When I won the last stake,a heavy one enough,my friend leant his forehead upon his hands,and you'll laugh when I tell you that his head literally smoked like a hot dumpling.I do not know whether his agitation was produced by the plan which he had against me,or by his having lost so heavily--though it must be allowed that he had reason to be a little funked,whichever way his thoughts went;but he pulled the bell,and ordered two bottles of champagne.While the fellow was bringing them he drew out a promissory note to the full amount,which he signed,and,as the man came in with the bottles and glasses,he desired him to be off;he filled out a glass for me,and,while he thought my eyes were off,for I was putting up his note at the time,he dropped something slyly into it,no doubt to sweeten it;but I saw it all,and,when he handed it to me,Isaid,with an emphasis which he might or might not understand:
'"There is some sediment in this;I'll not drink it."'"Is there?"said he,and at the same time snatched it from my hand and threw it into the fire.What do you think of that?have I not a tender chicken to manage?Win or lose,I will not play beyond five thousand to-night,and to-morrow sees me safe out of the reach of Sir Arthur's champagne.So,all things considered,I think you must allow that you are not the last who have found a knowing boy in 'Yours to command,'HUGH TISDALL.'
Of the authenticity of this document I never heard my father express a doubt;and I am satisfied that,owing to his strong conviction in favour of his brother,he would not have admitted it without sufficient inquiry,inasmuch as it tended to confirm the suspicions which already existed to his prejudice.
Now,the only point in this letter which made strongly against my uncle,was the mention of the 'double-clasped pocket-book'as the receptacle of the papers likely to involve him,for this pocket-book was not forthcoming,nor anywhere to be found,nor had any papers referring to his gaming transactions been found upon the dead man.However,whatever might have been the original intention of this Collis,neither my uncle nor my father ever heard more of him;but he published the letter in Faulkner's newspaper,which was shortly afterwards made the vehicle of a much more mysterious attack.The passage in that periodical to which I allude,occurred about four years afterwards,and while the fatal occurrence was still fresh in public recollection.It commenced by a rambling preface,stating that 'a CERTAIN PERSONwhom CERTAIN persons thought to be dead,was not so,but living,and in full possession of his memory,and moreover ready and able to make GREAT delinquents tremble.'It then went on to describe the murder,without,however,mentioning names;and in doing so,it entered into minute and circumstantial particulars of which none but an EYE-WITNESS could have been possessed,and by implications almost too unequivocal to be regarded in the light of insinuation,to involve the 'TITLEDGAMBLER'in the guilt of the transaction.
My father at once urged Sir Arthur to proceed against the paper in an action of libel;but he would not hear of it,nor consent to my father's taking any legal steps whatever in the matter.My father,however,wrote in a threatening tone to Faulkner,demanding a surrender of the author of the obnoxious article.The answer to this application is still in my possession,and is penned in an apologetic tone:it states that the manu had been handed in,paid for,and inserted as an advertisement,without sufficient inquiry,or any knowledge as to whom it referred.
No step,however,was taken to clear my uncle's character in the judgment of the public;and as he immediately sold a small property,the application of the proceeds of which was known to none,he was said to have disposed of it to enable himself to buy off the threatened information.
However the truth might have been,it is certain that no charges respecting the mysterious murder were afterwards publicly made against my uncle,and,as far as external disturbances were concerned,he enjoyed henceforward perfect security and quiet.
A deep and lasting impression,however,had been made upon the public mind,and Sir Arthur T--n was no longer visited or noticed by the gentry and aristocracy of the county,whose attention and courtesies he had hitherto received.He accordingly affected to despise these enjoyments which he could not procure,and shunned even that society which he might have commanded.
This is all that I need recapitulate of my uncle's history,and I now recur to my own.
Although my father had never,within my recollection,visited,or been visited by,my uncle,each being of sedentary,procrastinating,and secluded habits,and their respective residences being very far apart--the one lying in the county of Galway,the other in that of Cork--he was strongly attached to his brother,and evinced his affection by an active correspondence,and by deeply and proudly resenting that neglect which had marked Sir Arthur as unfit to mix in society.