XI. Ernest Nightray
Gambling and other games of chance had never appealed to me. Ernest, much to my distaste, took to the tables as a pastime while he was a youth at Lutwidge (disappointing institution; it's sad that I am the only Dodgson's man in the family). It was much to the family's misfortune that this scourge had gone unnoticed for so long. Claude first recognized Ernest's nightly engagements and followed him to the dens; not wanting to upset our parents with this news, he wrote to my mansion in the south. At the time, political matters at Pandora rendered my father into an intense amount of frustration, which translated into their home-life and affected Mother's moods as well.
Ernest was never the most studious of characters, and I had to witness his debauchery myself before taking action. After disguising my personage as a foreign baronet and travelling homeward, I, too, tracked my younger brother to the seediest of establishments, and watched him eat away at his monthly allowance in a matter of hours; the thought horrified me, and the only way to put a stop to this downward spiral was to take action at the tables myself. Placing myself at the card table where he sat, I engaged in several rounds of high-stakes Vingt-et-un.
I refuse to say exactly the methods I used to tip the sakes in my favor (a tactical secret that most covert officers must master), but I managed to win back almost all of Ernest's losses. Still dressed at the baronet, Ernest declared me to be a cheat and (though I was), I denied it. That led, inevitably, to a scuffle where I managed to give Ernest a good crack across the face and purposely set the establishment ablaze. Dragging my beaten brother back to my cloaked carriage, I revealed myself to him and berated his behavior as we fled the scene of the crime.
The damages brought the den to ruin, so to speak. After Ernest's broken jaw healed (he lied to my parents, saying some commoners had attempted to mug him in town), he started to become more diligent in his work. I believe my intervention had saved him from further dissolution.