Page:Stubbs's Calendar or The Fatal Boots.djvu/63

Rh their wine, and showed them how to play billiards, or ecarté, of long mornings, when there was nothing better to do. I didn't cheat: I’d rather die than cheat;—but if fellows will play, I wasn’t the man to say no—why should I? There was one young chap in our regiment of whom I really think I cleared £300 a year.

His name was Dobble. He was a tailor’s son, and wanted to be a gentleman. A poor, weak, young creature; easy to be made tipsy; easy to be cheated; and easy to be frightened. It was a blessing for him that I found him; for if any body else had, they would have plucked him of every shilling.

Ensign Dobble and I were sworn friends. I rode his horse for him, and chose his champagne; and did every thing, in fact, that a superior mind does for an inferior,—when the inferior has got the money. We were inseparables,—hunting every where in couples.

We even managed to fall in love with two sisters, as young soldiers will do, you know; for the dogs fall in love, with every change of quarters.