CHEVALIER LEGRAND AND MR. BLOPPER.

Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7122, 19 July 1888, Page 3

CHEVALIER LEGRAND AND MR. BLOPPER.

*- " You generally seem to win when' you play with Mr Blopper," said Jones one evening at the Club, when the Chevalier and his partner had been carrying all before them at whist.

"C'estvrai," assented the Chevalier in his mixed jargon of French and English, jingling the while in his trousers' pockets the numerous gold coins that had found their way to those receptacles in the course of the evening. " Meestare Bloppare plays a vera fine game. It is no credit to win with so good apartnare."

The Chevalier madeastately inclination as he spoke towards the object of his eulogium, who acknowledged it by blushing and looking foolish, for the latter of which processes nature had endowed him with unusual facilities. He was a snubnosed, bald-headed little man, with that peculiar species of florid complexion at which one would bedisappointedwereit not supplemented by a pair of sandy whiskers; however, Mr Blopper's whiskers were satisfying. He wore a black tail-coat a little large for him ; and with his grey trousers, massive gold watch-chain, and square-toed boots, looked like a British tradesman retired from business —cis was the case by all accounts.

'No so the Chevalier. He was tall and aristocratic-looking: his hair, which was grizzled, was worn and cut away overeach temple; he had a coal-black moustache aud twinkling black eyes, aud in his unexceptionable evening dress, with a bit of red ribbon in his button-hole, he was emphatically the distinguished foreigner.

Not much was known about the Chevalier. He had been amongst us some six months, or a little more. He had come in the first instance to drink the waters lor which our city is famous. For nearly a month after his arrival be stopped at the principal hotel, drank the waters religiously every day, and as he was always well dressed, and his manners were polished and agreeable, he soon made a number of acquaintances. Having been elected to the Club, aud having received a few invitations, he was soon discovered to be an acquisition to the society of the place. He was a good dancer anel quite a ladies' man : he talked amusingly, the more so for his broken Eng ish ; lie was a fair billiard-player, tho'uah he was an unlucky one, and was continually losing small suiri-e and haviug to pay for the game. But" he was a capital whist player and whist is our chief amusement. In our city is settled a large number of old army men : who hunt in the winter, play tennis in the summer, aud play whist alj the year round. We play for high stakes too; for where the players are pretty evenly matched anil are continually playing together, there is not much in it at the end of the year, and the high stakes stimu late the piay, and prevent men from getting careless. Jones and I had a conversation on the subject, as we walked home from the club this very evening. I had been losing for I had been one of the Chevalier's opponeuts; and partly, pc rhaps, to con sole myself, I hazarded the remark that whist never mado twenty pounels' difference to mc at the year's end, one way or another. Jones shook his head. " I can tell you one mau, Perkins," said he, " to whom it makes more than twenty pounds' difference at the year's end—or a? the week's end for that matter."

" Whom do you meant"' said I. Jones stopped, and struck his stick on the Krouud to «ive his words additionaemphasis. . "Perkins," he said, "I've been watching that old Chevalier very closely for some time, and in the last fortnight alone he has won upwards of a hundred and fifty pounds." " Never." said I, staggered.

" It's a fact. He never yets up a loser. And I've noticed another thing. He always wins—always—when Blopper is his partner. What do you make of it '{" "I never liked -Blopper." said I. "He was very near being piiled when the Chevalier put him e;p for the Club." •'Did. the Chevalier put him up'j" asked Jones quickly. " I was away at the time."

" Certainly. Blopper came about a week after the Chevalier was elected ; and the Chevalier, who had met him at Scar borough or somewhere, 30uie years ago " _ __

*" Humbug!" said Jones. He is often i rather ruele, is Jones; one of those shrewd, long-headed fellows that are never taken in, and are very uncompromising in ex pressing their opinions. He aud I are ! always "at loggerheads. He always thinks the wor-st of people, and I always think 'the best; but I am bound to confess that he is generally right in the sequel. "Perkins," he resumed thoughtfully "I mistrust that pair. We'll keep our eagle eyes on them, old boy. We'll watch th«:m and see if they are up to any trick, together. You are a mau of the world I you are, and you know a thing or two Watch theirgarae." I " The Chevalier hates people to look on," said I innocently. I " I dare say he does,' said Jones, very drily ; and here, as we were at my rooms, | we said good night and parted. As I was smoking my final pipe over the fire before turning in, I found my thoughts i very full of Jones's suspicions. I was i inclined to laugh at them ; but I had so often found Jones, who was a lawyer and a sharp one, to be perfectly right in his opinions, that 1 began to think out the matter thoroughly. It occurred to mc to calculate my own losses of late, and to examine how ofcen they had taken place when I was opposed to the suspected I was astonished at the result. Taking my piay and the cards I had held into con-side-ration, I was amazed to find how poor a show I had made against Mr Blopper and his foreign ally. I made a strong resolution that I would carry out Jones's suggestion. My opportunities were sure to be ample, for 1 am an idle man—a retired officer of Rovul F,ngineers—and I spend half my time at the Club, and most of that in the card-room. I commenced operations the next day. I found out very little. But one thing I noticed I found that the Chevalier s play when he had Blopper for his partner was vastly su-vriorto His play when 1 myself or any one else of like calibre was ou his side This was liuie enough ; but to my en'izh'ened nnderstatidingit was suiD'lent to keep mc on the alert and encourage mc to persevere. ~.,--— i I was so much an hahi/iu- or the cardroom and so much in the habit, when I was not piavin- myself, of looking on at otherpeople's games, tnat my survedlance of the Chevalier and his supposed confederate did not attract his attention in the lea»t. But watch as hard as I might, I could find out nothing, , At last, after a week Lad gone by—a

week, however, which swelled the Chevalier's gains <very considerably, I noticed—l was beginning to think that Jones was wrong, and that the two men simply understood each other's play peculiarly well, when, at last, I found out something. It was a wet afternoon, and, according to custom, there was a whist* before dinner. Whether the weather had any influence, or whatever was the reason, my senses seemed to be unusually on the alerfc. I watched everything. It struck mc, but I was not quite certain, that when the Chevalier and Mr Blopper cut the two highest or the two lowest, a3 the case might be, in cutting for partners it was usually one of the pair that had handled the pack last. I was not certain on this point; but it was clear to mc that they drew each other for partner rather more often than I should expect. I watched their faces. Not a look passed between them. Each was absorbed in the study of his own cardThere was, of course, no mirror in the room iv which the cards could be reflected ; and there was a fresh pack for each rubber, so the cards could not be marked.

Yet I grew more and more certain every moment that there was collusion between the two. If so. how did they communicate ?

I looked at their legs. The Chevalier sat upright in a stiff military attitude ; Blopper sat in a heap, with his legs tucked under his chair. There was no communication under the table. I was at fault. Aguin I felt inclined to give the thing up, and, leaning back in my chair, ceased to strain my eyes upon their every movement, and allowed my attention to relax.

Now, I have always been noted for the acuteness of my sense of hearing. It is painfully acute; so much so that numberless little jarring sounds, which fall un heeded on an ordinary ear, are to mc the source of positive agony. As, then, I lounged ia my chair, ia a sort of halfdream, I heard a little tap. The roomof course, was perfectly still, as the exigencies of the game required. I hardly noticed the sound, hut presently it came again. This time it was doubled — tap, tap. My attention was now thoroughly aroused, and I listened with all my might. Three times more I heard it —once single, twice treble. What was it? Merely the Chevalier drumming on his cards with his fingernails. But in the course of my professional experience I had given much attention to telegraphing, flag signalling, and signalling of every kind ; and I felt convinced that these"taps conveyed information from one to another with reference to tb€ game. I moved in my chair so that I could watch tlie Chevalier's left hand. Now that I knew what to expect, I never missed one of the signals. But I could not interpret them. Clearly they meant something, but I could not make out what.

Presently I noticed another thing. The Chevalier, when it was Blopper's turn to lead, would raise his first finger the least bit in the world, or he would similarly raise the second ringer, or the third, _or the fourth. This movement was distinct from the taps, and probably conveyed some different meaning. I watched Blopper's leads, and I found it out. I had already noticed that Bloppers did the same thing when it was the Chevalier's lead.

This was what I discovered. "When the first finger was raised, the partner usually led a heart. The second finger called a diamond ; the third, a club ; and the fourth, a spade. I had scarcely made this discovery when the rubber came to an end, and I had to postpone my further investigations. I said nothing to Jones about my success ; for I was resolved to elucidate themeanings of the taps before I gave my revelation to auy one. I had a conjecture in my mind as to their probable significance—a conjecture which I ultimately found to be correct.

During the next few days I made the most of my. opportunities, and I got the taps complete. A card has been played, say the three of diamonds. One tap means, 'I hold the ace.' .Two taps, given slovviy, denote the king; three denote the queen. One tap, followed quickly by another, like a quaver iumusie followed by a semi-quaver,denotes the knav,e ; one tap, followed similarly by two little ones, denotes the ten. So far, so good But I was sure there were other signals in use between this precious pair, by which they conveyed to each other how manyJthey had of a suit; This was done by a moveuieiit of the carols iv the hand ; by closing them up, so that only.the backs of a certain number could be seen. But I could not discover the secret of this manoeuvre, do what I would. All that I saw was that there wasno signal when three of a suit were held, doubtless because that is the average number.

However, I had now all that I wanted. I verified my discovery by one more patient and careful scrutiny, af r -er which i told Jones. He listened to mc with close attention, and' then slapped mc on the back.

" Perkins, my boy," he was pleased to observe, " you are not- such a fool as you look. What shall we do with them?"

" Why, there's the difficulty." said I, subduing my elation at this compliment. "The fact is that I—l seconded the Chevalier when he was put up for the Club. I shall look rather foolish if the man is exposed." " True," said Jones thoughtfully. " I think the best thing will be to let them know that we have found them out. and give ihem a hint to quit the place and travel in foreign parts. ' After some further deliberation we decided to pursue this course, aud con cocted our plan of action. The next night Jones and I met in the card-room, and invited the Chevalier and Mr Blopper to join in a rubber. Probibly to avert suspicion, the- two confederates seldom played together in the first rubber although they were sure tj (ret together ultimately; so it happened that the Chevalier and I found ourselves opposed to Jones and Mr Blopper. There was no other occupant of the room at this time. . .

I dealt. Jones led the four of clubs, and tapped twice on his cards to show that he led from the king. I took the trick with the ace. I led a spade and gave the necessary signal to show tliat I had the ace. .Tones played a small one, but rapped out to his partner that he had tlie queen. Our taps were quite unnecessarily loud. I looked up aud saw Blopper's face twitch ; the-Chevalier's expression was quite unconscious. Perhaps it was slightly too childlike and bland, but that is hypercriticaL

The Chevalier took the trick with the king. He hesitated what to play, and, looking absent-mindedly at mc, behold, there was my tirst finger sticking up obstinately in the air. For a moment his face changed, but he recovered himself. The Chevalier played a heart. Jones instantly began to tap like a woodpecker, and telegraphed the knave. I saw that the attention both of the Chevalier and of his ally -was arrested; there was ah indefinable air of expectancy about each of tbem. Jones and I looked steadily at thfMn ; and Jones put down tht knave. Two moreashen and guilty countenances wero never seen on mortal men. They saw at once that their game was up. The Chevalier tried to bluster.

1 "Vat is all this?" said he, rising from i the table and throwing down his cards. ' "Xothing much," said Jones, leaning | back tranquilly in his chair; " only my friend has found you out. And we will trouble you to do as we dictate." The Chevalier was for brazening it out. but Blopper pulled him by the sleeve ana ! whispered to him, and he was sulkily i quiet. •• Here is a sheet of stamped paper,"' pursued Jones, leisurely sticking a stamp on to a sheet of notep-ipcr, both of which he took from his pocket-book. " Write a cheque to the secretary for a hundred pounds—no, to Captain Perkins here— towards extinguishing the Club debt. Send in your resignations to-morrow with some excuse—gentlemen of your ingenuity will find no ditiieulty in framing one—ana leave this place in twenty-four hours." Very sullenly indeed the Chevalier sat down anel wrote the cheque, which Jones handed to mc, having first carefully examined it to see that it was in due form. „ . '»Be at the bank as soon as it opens, he whispered to tne, as the two confederates skulked out of the room, tbe « hevalier leading, with Blopper at his heels. "Good night, gentlemen. Write an article in the magazines about the fairness of wnist signalling. Weshan't see them again, Perkins/' he added, and fell to chuckling. Jor.es was wrong : I did see them again. I was at the bank at ten o'clock the next morning, and cashed the Chevalier's cheque. As I came out, buttoning up the nptos in my breast pocket, I almost ran against Blopper. He looked up and muttered an oath a_ he saw who it was, Presumably he had the Chevalier's cheque in his pocket for the whole of the balance of liis banking account. We have reason to believe that the Chevaiier Lcgnvnd and Mr Blopper are still __«'ellingon the Continent. ABTHL'B READY.