chess-board and men in readiness for the arrival of my visitor. I was desirous that Mephisto should not suspect the slightest hesitation on my part to meet him in our encounter. He arrived in good time, and entered the room unannounced. A pleasing self-satisfied smile was on his face, which made me remark, that he no doubt felt sure of his victim, but that it did not require any special politeness on his part to confirm me in my resolution to abide by the stipulations of our compact. "My dear A.," he replied, "you are in error if you think the emotions expressed in my features are caused by our meeting. What makes me feel happy is the result of my latest adventure; but I will not entertain you by relating this, as the time will soon arrive when I shall make you fully acquainted with me, and when you will learn with surprise that my history is closely interwoven with the history of the human mind; that as this latter widens its field. of inquiry and its depth of comprehension, to that extent will my raison d'être vanish, and my whole character be understood. But more of this anon; let us proceed to our game, as time is pressing with me, and I should not like to be guilty of hurrying you in your moves."

Mephisto had the first move; and on my replying with pawn to K 4, &c., he led up to a Ruy Lopez. I took advantage of the analytical studies of our modern masters, especially Zukertort, who have thoroughly exhausted this opening in both attack and defence, and defended myself in a manner which caused my adversary to study carefully these, to him, perhaps new positions.

I succeeded after the eighteenth or twentieth move not only in making the game even, but in forcing the exchange, and my attack. assumed an apparently overwhelming character. Mephisto, however, proved himself a wonderful pawn player, and evidently endeavoured to gain the advantage by pushing'a pawn to queen; to prevent which, I was obliged to give the exchange. This, as well as his excellent manoeuvring of the knights, enabled him to ward off the immediate danger, and bring about an equality of pieces, as shown in the following position :

We were both left with queen, rook, and three pawns, but the advantage of position was greatly in my favour. I threatened mate on the move, which could only be avoided by an exchange of queens; his rook was en prise, and I had a free pawn at K 6 ready to go to queen. He could not possibly escape this time, particularly since any attempt on his part to mate me could only result in a draw, owing to the position of my king. I must have involuntarily evinced my delight at the apparent certainty with which I thought I had caught the devil, because Mephisto looked at me with a sneering

smile, and said, "No doubt, my dear A., you look upon our contest as coming to a favourable conclusion through your unquestionably excellent play; but I am sorry to inform you, that you mistake the issue of this game. You must observe that it is now my move; and taking advantage of it, I can mate you in seven moves at latest." "Never," cried I, excited; "I play my K to R 3 and back to Kt 2, and you can but draw the game; and if you prevent the mate I threaten, then the exchange leaves me with a clear rook." "I have too high a regard for you," he replied, "to do more than indicate the exact position in which I produce the mate." I saw it; saw only too plainly that, with all my good play, I was conqueredconquered by a wily stratagem, of which none but a diabolical chess-player could be capable.

Disheartened, I sank back in my chair; and whether sleep, swoon, or Mephisto's magic power overcame me, I know not-but I lost my senses for a time. When I regained consciousness, I found that my mysterious visitor had disappeared, having left the position on the board as it was at the moment when he announced the mate-a mate, strangely enough, again in the fatal seven moves. Yes, whichever way I played,

with the best reply in my favour, it was, either way, mate in the same number of moves; and my short-sighted assumption, that his checking would lead to a draw, was blown to the winds. In a fit of anger, I swept the men off the board, took my hat, and sought to cool my heated brain in the night air. Who can depict my astonishment when I found the street-door properly locked, bolted, and chained! It made me halt, and sobered my anger considerably; for it forced on my mind the recognition that I had to deal with a superior power. What had become of Mephisto? How had he made his exit? The impossibility of answering such questions, except by guesses, made me discard the attempt; and instead of roaming about the streets in the night, I turned back and went to bed, endeavouring to forget my disappointment in sleep.

The next few days found me gloomily pondering over the adventure in which I had so foolishly engaged; and the question constantly recurred to me: How will Mephisto dispose of my services, should fate decide against me in our next contest? It was of course now too late to raise this question with the view of evading the consequences of his winning the third game; but the greater the probability of the match being decided in Mephisto's favour, the more did my mind dwell on the nature of my connection with this mysterious being. I could not but admit that, so far, his whole appearance and his actions had removed from my mind any fear such as a spirit of the traditional type would have inspired. Mephisto's true nature seemed an enigma which closer acquaintance alone could solve; and the prospect of thoroughly analysing so mysterious a being, who apparently had played so important but dubious a rôle in the world's history, fascinated me so much, as to overcome even the slightest hesitation to carry out our compact in the strictest sense. That he was in his nature and character different from what popular credulity had painted him, I was fully convinced; and I was, furthermore, prepared to believe that his so-called supernatural powers were nothing but the most extended knowledge and practical application of natural forces, which humanity laboriously acquires by slow steps. So, the more I reasoned upon my adventure, the less restraint I felt in meeting my chess master for the third and deciding game.

The eventful evening arrived, and I had everything in readiness for the reception of my visitor. When he entered the room, he approached me and cast a searching glance as if to read my thoughts; but seeing me look calm, and, if not exactly cheerful, at least without

any indications of depression of mind, he began chatting about the events of the day in an indifferent manner, until suddenly he turned round and asked significantly, "And you are quite prepared, my dear A., to engage in the last game of our contest, in order to decide in what relation we shall stand to each other during the remainder of your life?" "Oh, certainly," I replied; "do not, pray, imagine that either fear or mistrust would make me break my word in regard to our compact. Let us proceed, if you are willing, to the chessboard at once, and you shall find that I intend to do battle with you till the last chance of my winning has disappeared."

Mephisto looked at me in an inquiring manner, as if to detect a little bravado as the basis of my speech. A smile stole over his face whilst taking his seat opposite me, and he remarked: "Whatever the result of this game may be, I can give you the assurance that you shall never have occasion to regret the manner in which you have confided in me. But," he continued after a short pause, "let us proceed with the game, and reserve all further explanation until the result of our contest has been decided. I shall have more to say to you then than I can utter at present; so, dear A., make your move."

I adopted this time the Vienna opening, and played a careful, steady game, always looking more to safety at home than to attack; but my wily opponent took every opportunity to make me aware of the weakest point in my position, and by this means harassed me. However, his several attempts at breaking into my camp failed, and the battle was in consequence prolonged for many hours. No decided advantage was gained on either side; but, as I had to watch for every opportunity that the varying position afforded for drawing the game, so my opponent had to be upon the alert to prevent this. I began to feel the effect of this continuous strain on my mind, and became alarmed lest my adversary should succeed in beating me through my want of physical endurance; hence I determined to make one great effort to force the position, so that, by the exchange of pieces, the game should become less intricate. I endeavoured to get his queen out of play, and was prepared to exchange rooks, in which case my extra pawn would have won the game, as will be seen from the accompanying diagram.

In fact, the position appeared to me such, that I felt assured my opponent could not succeed in doing more than draw the game, which was equivalent to my winning it. It was Mephisto's move now, and he took some time to decide what to do. He looked intently at the position, and seemed to count. "Aha!" I thought;

"he is aware that he cannot escape; he sees, no doubt, how futile is the attempt to ward off the undoubted issue of the battle." I was in my own mind curious how this amiable devil would behave under defeat; how he would admit that he was beaten, and that his services would be at my disposal. He seemed to guess my thoughts, and looked me full in the face in a friendly, serious way, as much as to reproach me for rejoicing at his misadventure. I felt a little ashamed, and was on the point of excusing myself, when Mephisto addressed me in the following words: "You have no doubt in your experience found that Fate often appears to deal with us as if purposely to test our mental and moral qualities, by promising us the easy achievement of our desires, and, at the moment of accomplishment, causing disappointment in an unexpected manner. Well for him who has sufficient fortitude to take life as it comes in

welfare and adversity, determined to do the best he can, since thereby the battle of life is half won. It is for you now, my dear A., to test the qualities of your mind, by accepting the decision of our contest as revealed in the position on the chess-board before us. You are confident the game is in your favour; and if you had the