"A HIGH-TONED SPORT." 113 



that we can not be troubled with prisoners to-morrow," has 

 been the result. 



And what became of the dog ? Well, Grouse, for so I 

 named him, proved to be all I had expected, and was so 

 well-bred there was no trouble in breaking him, especially 

 as I had steady, knowing old dogs to hunt him with. But 

 I did not keep him long. I was soon to be engaged in the 

 pursuit of veiy different game, and could not take dogs 

 with me. I sold him to J. P., a well-known " professional 

 gambler," a typical specimen of, to use one of their own 

 expressions, " a high-toned sport " a species of gambler 

 unknown I think in Europe. There was no disguise as to 

 J. P.'s calling in life. He kept a bank a faro bank and 

 considered himself quite a man of honour. His credit was 

 excellent ; there was no lack of confidence as to his paying 

 his debts. No man suggested a doubt of the truth of his 

 word, or questioned the fairness of his " tables," unless he 

 wished for an opportunity to "look down the hole of a 

 shooting-iron.'* His dress was good style ; his manners 

 quiet and courteous ; and his bank a very pleasant lounge, 

 where his friends, at his (J. P.'s) expense, smoked the 

 best of Havannahs, imbibed the choicest of drinks, and 

 were waited upon by the most respectful of "coloured 

 boys ; " but where the play was very high, and no doubt 

 the percentage in favour of " the game " gave him a hand- 

 some income. Certainly it was known to me that J. P. 

 made regular remittances to his old mother " in the East," 

 to be by her invested. Still he was a gambler, and there- 

 fore not in society ; and though madame his wife was quite 

 correct, and a pretty, ladylike, well-informed little woman, 



