CAPTAIN SHABBYHOUNDE 247 



having a soul above "buttons," he suddenly 

 disappeared from the scene of action, and, after 

 vegetating some time at Boulogne, returned to 

 England a Captain, instead of, as might have been 

 expected, a count. This was, perhaps, accorded 

 on the strength of moustachios, a military-looking 

 travelling cap, and a broad black stripe down a pair 

 of blue trowsers, strapped under Wellington boots, 

 with ringing heel-spurs. " Captain " is a convenient 

 travelling name. Shabbyhounde had some little 

 money at starting — a few thousand pounds — 

 sufficient to make or mar a man. A part of this he 

 "dropped" in mastering the mysteries of the magic 

 game of ecarte, for there is little to be acquired 

 in this world without payment, and the balance, 

 whatever it was, has kept the Captain going ever 

 since. Of course he has had his seasons of prosperity 

 and depression ; but he has never been seen either 

 at the billiard or card table, or in any gambling and 

 ready money concern, without a well-displayed purse 

 full of sovereigns, or a stiff roll of notes, of which he 

 seemed most thoroughly careless. Indeed, it is in 

 scenes such as these that he chiefly shines, for it 

 is much easier to affect the flash man than the 

 foxhunter. Well-made clothes, smart cravats, clean 

 gloves, good boots, are things of easy accomplish- 

 ment ; but it is difficult for the non-foxhunting man, 

 at least for the man who has no real taste that way, 

 to pass muster among sportsmen. People soon see 

 who come out for pleasure and who for other 

 purposes, though, as we said before, it is no small 

 recommendation to hunting that it is so little 

 capable of perversion to other than legitimate 

 purposes. It may be prejudice, and because we 

 "know the man," but we cannot help thinking 

 there is something about Shabbyhounde's appear- 

 ance indicative of his calling, and different to other 

 people. His very clothes seem to tell his story. 



