MR. sloper's soliloquy. 55 



Sipping his claret one evening in his snuggery, Mr. James 

 Sloper might have been seen, had the opportunity been afforded, 

 to rub the tips of his fingers together with that cat-like 

 movement to which reference has been made on a former 

 occasion. 



" A great deal o' money," said he to the Invisible, to whom 

 alone he confided his thoughts when arranging plans for the 

 future. "A great deal o' money," repeated he, "might be 

 made out o' this oss. The public have backed, and will back, 

 nothing else." Here Mr. James Sloper held a glass of claret to 

 the light, and appeared to be scrutinising its colour ; but a 

 close observer would have seen that he neither saw the glass 

 nor the wine. "It's a great stake, too," continued he; "and 

 one that I should like to win. Now the question is what shall 

 I do, win or lose ? I can't do both," and Mr. James Sloper's 

 teeth came together with a snap, expressive of great discontent 

 that he could not do both. " With the money lumped on as 

 it is, they'd give the price of a county to have him pulled," 

 resumed he; "and to back him at the present odds it's like 

 giving one pound one for a sovereign. It's buying money 

 too dear." 



Mr. James Sloper tossed off the glass of claret; but it 

 might have been vinegar and water as far as any appreciable 

 effect was produced. 



Some seconds elapsed before he resumed his thinking aloud; 

 and the interval was employed in gently chafing the ends of 

 his fingers, as if the action not only promoted circulation, but 

 materially assisted in continuing the train of thought. 



" Bar accident," he resumed, still addressing the Invisible 

 and Airy Nothing in the remote corner of the apartment. " Bar 

 accident," repeated he, " and " — the words dropped slowly, 

 one by one from his lips like peas — " I'll win it ; but " — 

 and here he seemed to have hit upon something unusually 

 felicitous — " I must be on at a longer figger than five to two. 

 What shall he have ? A bad night won't do. That would be 



