club stakes and bets.  He gave to the matter his whole mind, and must have excelled those who were generally opposed to him.  But so obdurate was fortune to Lord Alfred that he could not make money even of whist.  Melmotte was very anxious to get into Lord Alfred’s club,—­The Peripatetics.  It was pleasant to see the grace with which he lost his money, and the sweet intimacy with which he called his lordship Alfred.  Lord Alfred had a remnant of feeling left, and would have liked to kick him.  Though Melmotte was by far the bigger man, and was also the younger, Lord Alfred would not have lacked the pluck to kick him.  Lord Alfred, in spite of his habitual idleness and vapid uselessness, had still left about him a dash of vigour, and sometimes...