THE SIX OF SPADES. 



CHAPTER I. 



MR. OLDACBE. 



MY Lord Dufferin, in Iris " Letters from High Lati- 

 tudes," tells the affecting story of a conscientious 

 cock, who, perplexed by the perpetual sunshine, and 

 unahle to discharge the vocal duties which seemed to 

 ensue therefrom, eventually crowed himself mad, 

 and put an end to his existence with his own wings, 

 by abruptly flying into the sea. " As we proceeded 

 north," he writes, " and the nights became shorter, 

 the cock we had shipped at Stornoway became quite 

 bewildered on the subject of that meteorological 

 phenomenon, the dawn of day. In fact, I doubt 

 whether he ever slept for more than five minutes at a 

 stretch, without waking up in a state of nervous ex- 

 citement lest it should be cockcrow. At last, when 

 night ceased altogether, his constitution could no 

 longer stand the shock. Ho crowed once or twice 

 sarcastically ; then went melancholy mad ; finally, 



