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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gambler, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Gambler
+
+Author: Fyodor Dostoyevsky
+
+Posting Date: March 1, 2009 [EBook #2197]
+Release Date: May, 2000
+[Last updated: July 24, 2011]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GAMBLER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Martin Adamson.  HTML version by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE GAMBLER
+
+
+By
+
+FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY
+
+
+Translated by C. J. Hogarth
+
+
+
+I
+
+At length I returned from two weeks leave of absence to find that my
+patrons had arrived three days ago in Roulettenberg. I received from
+them a welcome quite different to that which I had expected. The
+General eyed me coldly, greeted me in rather haughty fashion, and
+dismissed me to pay my respects to his sister. It was clear that from
+SOMEWHERE money had been acquired. I thought I could even detect a
+certain shamefacedness in the General's glance. Maria Philipovna, too,
+seemed distraught, and conversed with me with an air of detachment.
+Nevertheless, she took the money which I handed to her, counted it, and
+listened to what I had to tell. To luncheon there were expected that
+day a Monsieur Mezentsov, a French lady, and an Englishman; for,
+whenever money was in hand, a banquet in Muscovite style was always
+given. Polina Alexandrovna, on seeing me, inquired why I had been so
+long away. Then, without waiting for an answer, she departed. Evidently
+this was not mere accident, and I felt that I must throw some light
+upon matters. It was high time that I did so.
+
+I was assigned a small room on the fourth floor of the hotel (for you
+must know that I belonged to the General's suite). So far as I could
+see, the party had already gained some notoriety in the place, which
+had come to look upon the General as a Russian nobleman of great
+wealth. Indeed, even before luncheon he charged me, among other things,
+to get two thousand-franc notes changed for him at the hotel counter,
+which put us in a position to be thought millionaires at all events for
+a week! Later, I was about to take Mischa and Nadia for a walk when a
+summons reached me from the staircase that I must attend the General.
+He began by deigning to inquire of me where I was going to take the
+children; and as he did so, I could see that he failed to look me in
+the eyes. He WANTED to do so, but each time was met by me with such a
+fixed, disrespectful stare that he desisted in confusion. In pompous
+language, however, which jumbled one sentence into another, and at
+length grew disconnected, he gave me to understand that I was to lead
+the children altogether away from the Casino, and out into the park.
+Finally his anger exploded, and he added sharply:
+
+"I suppose you would like to take them to the Casino to play roulette?
+Well, excuse my speaking so plainly, but I know how addicted you are to
+gambling. Though I am not your mentor, nor wish to be, at least I have
+a right to require that you shall not actually compromise me."
+
+"I have no money for gambling," I quietly replied.
+
+"But you will soon be in receipt of some," retorted the General,
+reddening a little as he dived into his writing desk and applied
+himself to a memorandum book. From it he saw that he had 120 roubles of
+mine in his keeping.
+
+"Let us calculate," he went on. "We must translate these roubles into
+thalers. Here--take 100 thalers, as a round sum. The rest will be safe
+in my hands."
+
+In silence I took the money.
+
+"You must not be offended at what I say," he continued. "You are too
+touchy about these things. What I have said I have said merely as a
+warning. To do so is no more than my right."
+
+When returning home with the children before luncheon, I met a
+cavalcade of our party riding to view some ruins. Two splendid
+carriages, magnificently horsed, with Mlle. Blanche, Maria Philipovna,
+and Polina Alexandrovna in one of them, and the Frenchman, the
+Englishman, and the General in attendance on horseback! The passers-by
+stopped to stare at them, for the effect was splendid--the General
+could not have improved upon it. I calculated that, with the 4000
+francs which I had brought with me, added to what my patrons seemed
+already to have acquired, the party must be in possession of at least
+7000 or 8000 francs--though that would be none too much for Mlle.
+Blanche, who, with her mother and the Frenchman, was also lodging in
+our hotel. The latter gentleman was called by the lacqueys "Monsieur le
+Comte," and Mlle. Blanche's mother was dubbed "Madame la Comtesse."
+Perhaps in very truth they WERE "Comte et Comtesse."
+
+I knew that "Monsieur le Comte" would take no notice of me when we met
+at dinner, as also that the General would not dream of introducing us,
+nor of recommending me to the "Comte." However, the latter had lived
+awhile in Russia, and knew that the person referred to as an "uchitel"
+is never looked upon as a bird of fine feather. Of course, strictly
+speaking, he knew me; but I was an uninvited guest at the luncheon--the
+General had forgotten to arrange otherwise, or I should have been
+dispatched to dine at the table d'hote. Nevertheless, I presented
+myself in such guise that the General looked at me with a touch of
+approval; and, though the good Maria Philipovna was for showing me my
+place, the fact of my having previously met the Englishman, Mr. Astley,
+saved me, and thenceforward I figured as one of the company.
+
+This strange Englishman I had met first in Prussia, where we had
+happened to sit vis-a-vis in a railway train in which I was travelling
+to overtake our party; while, later, I had run across him in France,
+and again in Switzerland--twice within the space of two weeks! To
+think, therefore, that I should suddenly encounter him again here, in
+Roulettenberg! Never in my life had I known a more retiring man, for he
+was shy to the pitch of imbecility, yet well aware of the fact (for he
+was no fool). At the same time, he was a gentle, amiable sort of an
+individual, and, even on our first encounter in Prussia I had contrived
+to draw him out, and he had told me that he had just been to the North
+Cape, and was now anxious to visit the fair at Nizhni Novgorod. How he
+had come to make the General's acquaintance I do not know, but,
+apparently, he was much struck with Polina. Also, he was delighted that
+I should sit next him at table, for he appeared to look upon me as his
+bosom friend.
+
+During the meal the Frenchman was in great feather: he was discursive
+and pompous to every one. In Moscow too, I remembered, he had blown a
+great many bubbles. Interminably he discoursed on finance and Russian
+politics, and though, at times, the General made feints to contradict
+him, he did so humbly, and as though wishing not wholly to lose sight
+of his own dignity.
+
+For myself, I was in a curious frame of mind. Even before luncheon was
+half finished I had asked myself the old, eternal question: "WHY do I
+continue to dance attendance upon the General, instead of having left
+him and his family long ago?" Every now and then I would glance at
+Polina Alexandrovna, but she paid me no attention; until eventually I
+became so irritated that I decided to play the boor.
+
+First of all I suddenly, and for no reason whatever, plunged loudly and
+gratuitously into the general conversation. Above everything I wanted
+to pick a quarrel with the Frenchman; and, with that end in view I
+turned to the General, and exclaimed in an overbearing sort of
+way--indeed, I think that I actually interrupted him--that that summer
+it had been almost impossible for a Russian to dine anywhere at tables
+d'hote. The General bent upon me a glance of astonishment.
+
+"If one is a man of self-respect," I went on, "one risks abuse by so
+doing, and is forced to put up with insults of every kind. Both at
+Paris and on the Rhine, and even in Switzerland--there are so many
+Poles, with their sympathisers, the French, at these tables d'hote that
+one cannot get a word in edgeways if one happens only to be a Russian."
+
+This I said in French. The General eyed me doubtfully, for he did not
+know whether to be angry or merely to feel surprised that I should so
+far forget myself.
+
+"Of course, one always learns SOMETHING EVERYWHERE," said the Frenchman
+in a careless, contemptuous sort of tone.
+
+"In Paris, too, I had a dispute with a Pole," I continued, "and then
+with a French officer who supported him. After that a section of the
+Frenchmen present took my part. They did so as soon as I told them the
+story of how once I threatened to spit into Monsignor's coffee."
+
+"To spit into it?" the General inquired with grave disapproval in his
+tone, and a stare, of astonishment, while the Frenchman looked at me
+unbelievingly.
+
+"Just so," I replied. "You must know that, on one occasion, when, for
+two days, I had felt certain that at any moment I might have to depart
+for Rome on business, I repaired to the Embassy of the Holy See in
+Paris, to have my passport visaed. There I encountered a sacristan of
+about fifty, and a man dry and cold of mien. After listening politely,
+but with great reserve, to my account of myself, this sacristan asked
+me to wait a little. I was in a great hurry to depart, but of course I
+sat down, pulled out a copy of L'Opinion Nationale, and fell to reading
+an extraordinary piece of invective against Russia which it happened to
+contain. As I was thus engaged I heard some one enter an adjoining room
+and ask for Monsignor; after which I saw the sacristan make a low bow
+to the visitor, and then another bow as the visitor took his leave. I
+ventured to remind the good man of my own business also; whereupon,
+with an expression of, if anything, increased dryness, he again asked
+me to wait. Soon a third visitor arrived who, like myself, had come on
+business (he was an Austrian of some sort); and as soon as ever he had
+stated his errand he was conducted upstairs! This made me very angry. I
+rose, approached the sacristan, and told him that, since Monsignor was
+receiving callers, his lordship might just as well finish off my affair
+as well. Upon this the sacristan shrunk back in astonishment. It simply
+passed his understanding that any insignificant Russian should dare to
+compare himself with other visitors of Monsignor's! In a tone of the
+utmost effrontery, as though he were delighted to have a chance of
+insulting me, he looked me up and down, and then said: "Do you suppose
+that Monsignor is going to put aside his coffee for YOU?" But I only
+cried the louder: "Let me tell you that I am going to SPIT into that
+coffee! Yes, and if you do not get me my passport visaed this very
+minute, I shall take it to Monsignor myself."
+
+"What? While he is engaged with a Cardinal?" screeched the sacristan,
+again shrinking back in horror. Then, rushing to the door, he spread
+out his arms as though he would rather die than let me enter.
+
+Thereupon I declared that I was a heretic and a barbarian--"Je suis
+heretique et barbare," I said, "and that these archbishops and
+cardinals and monsignors, and the rest of them, meant nothing at all to
+me. In a word, I showed him that I was not going to give way. He looked
+at me with an air of infinite resentment. Then he snatched up my
+passport, and departed with it upstairs. A minute later the passport
+had been visaed! Here it is now, if you care to see it,"--and I pulled
+out the document, and exhibited the Roman visa.
+
+"But--" the General began.
+
+"What really saved you was the fact that you proclaimed yourself a
+heretic and a barbarian," remarked the Frenchman with a smile. "Cela
+n'etait pas si bete."
+
+"But is that how Russian subjects ought to be treated? Why, when they
+settle here they dare not utter even a word--they are ready even to
+deny the fact that they are Russians! At all events, at my hotel in
+Paris I received far more attention from the company after I had told
+them about the fracas with the sacristan. A fat Polish nobleman, who
+had been the most offensive of all who were present at the table
+d'hote, at once went upstairs, while some of the Frenchmen were simply
+disgusted when I told them that two years ago I had encountered a man
+at whom, in 1812, a French 'hero' fired for the mere fun of discharging
+his musket. That man was then a boy of ten and his family are still
+residing in Moscow."
+
+"Impossible!" the Frenchman spluttered. "No French soldier would fire
+at a child!"
+
+"Nevertheless the incident was as I say," I replied. "A very respected
+ex-captain told me the story, and I myself could see the scar left on
+his cheek."
+
+The Frenchman then began chattering volubly, and the General supported
+him; but I recommended the former to read, for example, extracts from
+the memoirs of General Perovski, who, in 1812, was a prisoner in the
+hands of the French. Finally Maria Philipovna said something to
+interrupt the conversation. The General was furious with me for having
+started the altercation with the Frenchman. On the other hand, Mr.
+Astley seemed to take great pleasure in my brush with Monsieur, and,
+rising from the table, proposed that we should go and have a drink
+together. The same afternoon, at four o'clock, I went to have my
+customary talk with Polina Alexandrovna; and, the talk soon extended to
+a stroll. We entered the Park, and approached the Casino, where Polina
+seated herself upon a bench near the fountain, and sent Nadia away to a
+little distance to play with some other children. Mischa also I
+dispatched to play by the fountain, and in this fashion we--that is to
+say, Polina and myself--contrived to find ourselves alone.
+
+Of course, we began by talking on business matters. Polina seemed
+furious when I handed her only 700 gulden, for she had thought to
+receive from Paris, as the proceeds of the pledging of her diamonds, at
+least 2000 gulden, or even more.
+
+"Come what may, I MUST have money," she said. "And get it somehow I
+will--otherwise I shall be ruined."
+
+I asked her what had happened during my absence.
+
+"Nothing; except that two pieces of news have reached us from St.
+Petersburg. In the first place, my grandmother is very ill, and
+unlikely to last another couple of days. We had this from Timothy
+Petrovitch himself, and he is a reliable person. Every moment we are
+expecting to receive news of the end."
+
+"All of you are on the tiptoe of expectation?" I queried.
+
+"Of course--all of us, and every minute of the day. For a
+year-and-a-half now we have been looking for this."
+
+"Looking for it?"
+
+"Yes, looking for it. I am not her blood relation, you know--I am
+merely the General's step-daughter.  Yet I am certain that the old lady
+has remembered me in her will."
+
+"Yes, I believe that you WILL come in for a good deal," I said with
+some assurance.
+
+"Yes, for she is fond of me. But how come you to think so?"
+
+I answered this question with another one. "That Marquis of yours," I
+said, "--is HE also familiar with your family secrets?"
+
+"And why are you yourself so interested in them?" was her retort as she
+eyed me with dry grimness.
+
+"Never mind. If I am not mistaken, the General has succeeded in
+borrowing money of the Marquis."
+
+"It may be so."
+
+"Is it likely that the Marquis would have lent the money if he had not
+known something or other about your grandmother? Did you notice, too,
+that three times during luncheon, when speaking of her, he called her
+'La Baboulenka'? [Dear little Grandmother]. What loving, friendly
+behaviour, to be sure!"
+
+"Yes, that is true. As soon as ever he learnt that I was likely to
+inherit something from her he began to pay me his addresses. I thought
+you ought to know that."
+
+"Then he has only just begun his courting? Why, I thought he had been
+doing so a long while!"
+
+"You KNOW he has not," retorted Polina angrily. "But where on earth did
+you pick up this Englishman?" She said this after a pause.
+
+"I KNEW you would ask about him!" Whereupon I told her of my previous
+encounters with Astley while travelling.
+
+"He is very shy," I said, "and susceptible. Also, he is in love with
+you.--"
+
+"Yes, he is in love with me," she replied.
+
+"And he is ten times richer than the Frenchman. In fact, what does the
+Frenchman possess? To me it seems at least doubtful that he possesses
+anything at all."
+
+"Oh, no, there is no doubt about it. He does possess some chateau or
+other. Last night the General told me that for certain. NOW are you
+satisfied?"
+
+"Nevertheless, in your place I should marry the Englishman."
+
+"And why?" asked Polina.
+
+"Because, though the Frenchman is the handsomer of the two, he is also
+the baser; whereas the Englishman is not only a man of honour, but ten
+times the wealthier of the pair."
+
+"Yes? But then the Frenchman is a marquis, and the cleverer of the
+two," remarked Polina imperturbably.
+
+"Is that so?" I repeated.
+
+"Yes; absolutely."
+
+Polina was not at all pleased at my questions; I could see that she was
+doing her best to irritate me with the brusquerie of her answers. But I
+took no notice of this.
+
+"It amuses me to see you grow angry," she continued. "However, inasmuch
+as I allow you to indulge in these questions and conjectures, you ought
+to pay me something for the privilege."
+
+"I consider that I have a perfect right to put these questions to you,"
+was my calm retort; "for the reason that I am ready to pay for them,
+and also care little what becomes of me."
+
+Polina giggled.
+
+"Last time you told me--when on the Shlangenberg--that at a word from
+me you would be ready to jump down a thousand feet into the abyss. Some
+day I may remind you of that saying, in order to see if you will be as
+good as your word. Yes, you may depend upon it that I shall do so. I
+hate you because I have allowed you to go to such lengths, and I also
+hate you and still more--because you are so necessary to me. For the
+time being I want you, so I must keep you."
+
+Then she made a movement to rise. Her tone had sounded very angry.
+Indeed, of late her talks with me had invariably ended on a note of
+temper and irritation--yes, of real temper.
+
+"May I ask you who is this Mlle. Blanche?" I inquired (since I did not
+wish Polina to depart without an explanation).
+
+"You KNOW who she is--just Mlle. Blanche. Nothing further has
+transpired. Probably she will soon be Madame General--that is to say,
+if the rumours that Grandmamma is nearing her end should prove true.
+Mlle. Blanche, with her mother and her cousin, the Marquis, know very
+well that, as things now stand, we are ruined."
+
+"And is the General at last in love?"
+
+"That has nothing to do with it. Listen to me. Take these 700 florins,
+and go and play roulette with them. Win as much for me as you can, for
+I am badly in need of money."
+
+So saying, she called Nadia back to her side, and entered the Casino,
+where she joined the rest of our party. For myself, I took, in musing
+astonishment, the first path to the left. Something had seemed to
+strike my brain when she told me to go and play roulette. Strangely
+enough, that something had also seemed to make me hesitate, and to set
+me analysing my feelings with regard to her. In fact, during the two
+weeks of my absence I had felt far more at my ease than I did now, on
+the day of my return; although, while travelling, I had moped like an
+imbecile, rushed about like a man in a fever, and actually beheld her
+in my dreams. Indeed, on one occasion (this happened in Switzerland,
+when I was asleep in the train) I had spoken aloud to her, and set all
+my fellow-travellers laughing. Again, therefore, I put to myself the
+question: "Do I, or do I not love her?" and again I could return myself
+no answer or, rather, for the hundredth time I told myself that I
+detested her. Yes, I detested her; there were moments (more especially
+at the close of our talks together) when I would gladly have given half
+my life to have strangled her! I swear that, had there, at such
+moments, been a sharp knife ready to my hand, I would have seized that
+knife with pleasure, and plunged it into her breast. Yet I also swear
+that if, on the Shlangenberg, she had REALLY said to me, "Leap into
+that abyss," I should have leapt into it, and with equal pleasure. Yes,
+this I knew well. One way or the other, the thing must soon be ended.
+She, too, knew it in some curious way; the thought that I was fully
+conscious of her inaccessibility, and of the impossibility of my ever
+realising my dreams, afforded her, I am certain, the keenest possible
+pleasure. Otherwise, is it likely that she, the cautious and clever
+woman that she was, would have indulged in this familiarity and
+openness with me? Hitherto (I concluded) she had looked upon me in the
+same light that the old Empress did upon her servant--the Empress who
+hesitated not to unrobe herself before her slave, since she did not
+account a slave a man. Yes, often Polina must have taken me for
+something less than a man!"
+
+Still, she had charged me with a commission--to win what I could at
+roulette. Yet all the time I could not help wondering WHY it was so
+necessary for her to win something, and what new schemes could have
+sprung to birth in her ever-fertile brain. A host of new and unknown
+factors seemed to have arisen during the last two weeks. Well, it
+behoved me to divine them, and to probe them, and that as soon as
+possible. Yet not now: at the present moment I must repair to the
+roulette-table.
+
+
+
+II
+
+I confess I did not like it. Although I had made up my mind to play, I
+felt averse to doing so on behalf of some one else. In fact, it almost
+upset my balance, and I entered the gaming rooms with an angry feeling
+at my heart. At first glance the scene irritated me. Never at any time
+have I been able to bear the flunkeyishness which one meets in the
+Press of the world at large, but more especially in that of Russia,
+where, almost every evening, journalists write on two subjects in
+particular namely, on the splendour and luxury of the casinos to be
+found in the Rhenish towns, and on the heaps of gold which are daily to
+be seen lying on their tables.  Those journalists are not paid for
+doing so: they write thus merely out of a spirit of disinterested
+complaisance. For there is nothing splendid about the establishments in
+question; and, not only are there no heaps of gold to be seen lying on
+their tables, but also there is very little money to be seen at all. Of
+course, during the season, some madman or another may make his
+appearance--generally an Englishman, or an Asiatic, or a Turk--and (as
+had happened during the summer of which I write) win or lose a great
+deal; but, as regards the rest of the crowd, it plays only for petty
+gulden, and seldom does much wealth figure on the board.
+
+When, on the present occasion, I entered the gaming-rooms (for the
+first time in my life), it was several moments before I could even make
+up my mind to play. For one thing, the crowd oppressed me. Had I been
+playing for myself, I think I should have left at once, and never have
+embarked upon gambling at all, for I could feel my heart beginning to
+beat, and my heart was anything but cold-blooded. Also, I knew, I had
+long ago made up my mind, that never should I depart from Roulettenberg
+until some radical, some final, change had taken place in my fortunes.
+Thus, it must and would be. However ridiculous it may seem to you that
+I was expecting to win at roulette, I look upon the generally accepted
+opinion concerning the folly and the grossness of hoping to win at
+gambling as a thing even more absurd. For why is gambling a whit worse
+than any other method of acquiring money? How, for instance, is it
+worse than trade? True, out of a hundred persons, only one can win; yet
+what business is that of yours or of mine?
+
+At all events, I confined myself at first simply to looking on, and
+decided to attempt nothing serious. Indeed, I felt that, if I began to
+do anything at all, I should do it in an absent-minded, haphazard sort
+of way--of that I felt certain. Also, it behoved me to learn the game
+itself; since, despite a thousand descriptions of roulette which I had
+read with ceaseless avidity, I knew nothing of its rules, and had never
+even seen it played.
+
+In the first place, everything about it seemed to me so foul--so
+morally mean and foul. Yet I am not speaking of the hungry, restless
+folk who, by scores nay, even by hundreds--could be seen crowded around
+the gaming-tables. For in a desire to win quickly and to win much I can
+see nothing sordid; I have always applauded the opinion of a certain
+dead and gone, but cocksure, moralist who replied to the excuse that
+"one may always gamble moderately", by saying that to do so makes
+things worse, since, in that case, the profits too will always be
+moderate.
+
+Insignificant profits and sumptuous profits do not stand on the same
+footing. No, it is all a matter of proportion. What may seem a small
+sum to a Rothschild may seem a large sum to me, and it is not the fault
+of stakes or of winnings that everywhere men can be found winning, can
+be found depriving their fellows of something, just as they do at
+roulette. As to the question whether stakes and winnings are, in
+themselves, immoral is another question altogether, and I wish to
+express no opinion upon it. Yet the very fact that I was full of a
+strong desire to win caused this gambling for gain, in spite of its
+attendant squalor, to contain, if you will, something intimate,
+something sympathetic, to my eyes: for it is always pleasant to see men
+dispensing with ceremony, and acting naturally, and in an unbuttoned
+mood....
+
+Yet, why should I so deceive myself? I could see that the whole thing
+was a vain and unreasoning pursuit; and what, at the first glance,
+seemed to me the ugliest feature in this mob of roulette players was
+their respect for their occupation--the seriousness, and even the
+humility, with which they stood around the gaming tables. Moreover, I
+had always drawn sharp distinctions between a game which is de mauvais
+genre and a game which is permissible to a decent man. In fact, there
+are two sorts of gaming--namely, the game of the gentleman and the game
+of the plebs--the game for gain, and the game of the herd. Herein, as
+said, I draw sharp distinctions. Yet how essentially base are the
+distinctions! For instance, a gentleman may stake, say, five or ten
+louis d'or--seldom more, unless he is a very rich man, when he may
+stake, say, a thousand francs; but, he must do this simply for the love
+of the game itself--simply for sport, simply in order to observe the
+process of winning or of losing, and, above all things, as a man who
+remains quite uninterested in the possibility of his issuing a winner.
+If he wins, he will be at liberty, perhaps, to give vent to a laugh, or
+to pass a remark on the circumstance to a bystander, or to stake again,
+or to double his stake; but, even this he must do solely out of
+curiosity, and for the pleasure of watching the play of chances and of
+calculations, and not because of any vulgar desire to win. In a word,
+he must look upon the gaming-table, upon roulette, and upon trente et
+quarante, as mere relaxations which have been arranged solely for his
+amusement. Of the existence of the lures and gains upon which the bank
+is founded and maintained he must profess to have not an inkling. Best
+of all, he ought to imagine his fellow-gamblers and the rest of the mob
+which stands trembling over a coin to be equally rich and gentlemanly
+with himself, and playing solely for recreation and pleasure. This
+complete ignorance of the realities, this innocent view of mankind, is
+what, in my opinion, constitutes the truly aristocratic. For instance,
+I have seen even fond mothers so far indulge their guileless, elegant
+daughters--misses of fifteen or sixteen--as to give them a few gold
+coins and teach them how to play; and though the young ladies may have
+won or have lost, they have invariably laughed, and departed as though
+they were well pleased. In the same way, I saw our General once
+approach the table in a stolid, important manner. A lacquey darted to
+offer him a chair, but the General did not even notice him. Slowly he
+took out his money bags, and slowly extracted 300 francs in gold, which
+he staked on the black, and won. Yet he did not take up his
+winnings--he left them there on the table. Again the black turned up,
+and again he did not gather in what he had won; and when, in the third
+round, the RED turned up he lost, at a stroke, 1200 francs. Yet even
+then he rose with a smile, and thus preserved his reputation; yet I
+knew that his money bags must be chafing his heart, as well as that,
+had the stake been twice or thrice as much again, he would still have
+restrained himself from venting his disappointment.
+
+On the other hand, I saw a Frenchman first win, and then lose, 30,000
+francs cheerfully, and without a murmur. Yes; even if a gentleman
+should lose his whole substance, he must never give way to annoyance.
+Money must be so subservient to gentility as never to be worth a
+thought.  Of course, the SUPREMELY aristocratic thing is to be entirely
+oblivious of the mire of rabble, with its setting; but sometimes a
+reverse course may be aristocratic to remark, to scan, and even to gape
+at, the mob (for preference, through a lorgnette), even as though one
+were taking the crowd and its squalor for a sort of raree show which
+had been organised specially for a gentleman's diversion. Though one
+may be squeezed by the crowd, one must look as though one were fully
+assured of being the observer--of having neither part nor lot with the
+observed. At the same time, to stare fixedly about one is unbecoming;
+for that, again, is ungentlemanly, seeing that no spectacle is worth an
+open stare--are no spectacles in the world which merit from a gentleman
+too pronounced an inspection.
+
+However, to me personally the scene DID seem to be worth undisguised
+contemplation--more especially in view of the fact that I had come
+there not only to look at, but also to number myself sincerely and
+wholeheartedly with, the mob. As for my secret moral views, I had no
+room for them amongst my actual, practical opinions. Let that stand as
+written: I am writing only to relieve my conscience. Yet let me say
+also this: that from the first I have been consistent in having an
+intense aversion to any trial of my acts and thoughts by a moral
+standard. Another standard altogether has directed my life....
+
+As a matter of fact, the mob was playing in exceedingly foul fashion.
+Indeed, I have an idea that sheer robbery was going on around that
+gaming-table. The croupiers who sat at the two ends of it had not only
+to watch the stakes, but also to calculate the game--an immense amount
+of work for two men! As for the crowd itself--well, it consisted mostly
+of Frenchmen. Yet I was not then taking notes merely in order to be
+able to give you a description of roulette, but in order to get my
+bearings as to my behaviour when I myself should begin to play. For
+example, I noticed that nothing was more common than for another's hand
+to stretch out and grab one's winnings whenever one had won. Then there
+would arise a dispute, and frequently an uproar; and it would be a case
+of "I beg of you to prove, and to produce witnesses to the fact, that
+the stake is yours."
+
+At first the proceedings were pure Greek to me. I could only divine and
+distinguish that stakes were hazarded on numbers, on "odd" or "even,"
+and on colours. Polina's money I decided to risk, that evening, only to
+the amount of 100 gulden. The thought that I was not going to play for
+myself quite unnerved me. It was an unpleasant sensation, and I tried
+hard to banish it. I had a feeling that, once I had begun to play for
+Polina, I should wreck my own fortunes. Also, I wonder if any one has
+EVER approached a gaming-table without falling an immediate prey to
+superstition? I began by pulling out fifty gulden, and staking them on
+"even." The wheel spun and stopped at 13. I had lost! With a feeling
+like a sick qualm, as though I would like to make my way out of the
+crowd and go home, I staked another fifty gulden--this time on the red.
+The red turned up. Next time I staked the 100 gulden just where they
+lay--and again the red turned up. Again I staked the whole sum, and
+again the red turned up. Clutching my 400 gulden, I placed 200 of them
+on twelve figures, to see what would come of it. The result was that
+the croupier paid me out three times my total stake! Thus from 100
+gulden my store had grown to 800! Upon that such a curious, such an
+inexplicable, unwonted feeling overcame me that I decided to depart.
+Always the thought kept recurring to me that if I had been playing for
+myself alone I should never have had such luck. Once more I staked the
+whole 800 gulden on the "even." The wheel stopped at 4. I was paid out
+another 800 gulden, and, snatching up my pile of 1600, departed in
+search of Polina  Alexandrovna.
+
+I found the whole party walking in the park, and was able to get an
+interview with her only after supper. This time the Frenchman was
+absent from the meal, and the General seemed to be in a more expansive
+vein. Among other things, he thought it necessary to remind me that he
+would be sorry to see me playing at the gaming-tables. In his opinion,
+such conduct would greatly compromise him--especially if I were to lose
+much. "And even if you were to WIN much I should be compromised," he
+added in a meaning sort of way. "Of course I have no RIGHT to order
+your actions, but you yourself will agree that..." As usual, he did not
+finish his sentence. I answered drily that I had very little money in
+my possession, and that, consequently, I was hardly in a position to
+indulge in any conspicuous play, even if I did gamble. At last, when
+ascending to my own room, I succeeded in handing Polina her winnings,
+and told her that, next time, I should not play for her.
+
+"Why not?" she asked excitedly.
+
+"Because I wish to play FOR MYSELF," I replied with a feigned glance of
+astonishment. "That is my sole reason."
+
+"Then are you so certain that your roulette-playing will get us out of
+our difficulties?" she inquired with a quizzical smile.
+
+I said very seriously, "Yes," and then added: "Possibly my certainty
+about winning may seem to you ridiculous; yet, pray leave me in peace."
+
+Nonetheless she insisted that I ought to go halves with her in the
+day's winnings, and offered me 800 gulden on condition that henceforth,
+I gambled only on those terms; but I refused to do so, once and for
+all--stating, as my reason, that I found myself unable to play on
+behalf of any one else, "I am not unwilling so to do," I added, "but in
+all probability I should lose."
+
+"Well, absurd though it be, I place great hopes on your playing of
+roulette," she remarked musingly; "wherefore, you ought to play as my
+partner and on equal shares; wherefore, of course, you will do as I
+wish."
+
+Then she left me without listening to any further protests on my part.
+
+
+
+III
+
+On the morrow she said not a word to me about gambling. In fact, she
+purposely avoided me, although her old manner to me had not changed:
+the same serene coolness was hers on meeting me--a coolness that was
+mingled even with a spice of contempt and dislike. In short, she was at
+no pains to conceal her aversion to me. That I could see plainly. Also,
+she did not trouble to conceal from me the fact that I was necessary to
+her, and that she was keeping me for some end which she had in view.
+Consequently there became established between us relations which, to a
+large extent, were incomprehensible to me, considering her general
+pride and aloofness. For example, although she knew that I was madly in
+love with her, she allowed me to speak to her of my passion (though she
+could not well have showed her contempt for me more than by permitting
+me, unhindered and unrebuked, to mention to her my love).
+
+"You see," her attitude expressed, "how little I regard your feelings,
+as well as how little I care for what you say to me, or for what you
+feel for me." Likewise, though she spoke as before concerning her
+affairs, it was never with complete frankness. In her contempt for me
+there were refinements. Although she knew well that I was aware of a
+certain circumstance in her life of something which might one day cause
+her trouble, she would speak to me about her affairs (whenever she had
+need of me for a given end) as though I were a slave or a passing
+acquaintance--yet tell them me only in so far as one would need to know
+them if one were going to be made temporary use of. Had I not known the
+whole chain of events, or had she not seen how much I was pained and
+disturbed by her teasing insistency, she would never have thought it
+worthwhile to soothe me with this frankness--even though, since she not
+infrequently used me to execute commissions that were not only
+troublesome, but risky, she ought, in my opinion, to have been frank in
+ANY case. But, forsooth, it was not worth her while to trouble about MY
+feelings--about the fact that I was uneasy, and, perhaps, thrice as put
+about by her cares and misfortunes as she was herself!
+
+For three weeks I had known of her intention to take to roulette. She
+had even warned me that she would like me to play on her behalf, since
+it was unbecoming for her to play in person; and, from the tone of her
+words I had gathered that there was something on her mind besides a
+mere desire to win money. As if money could matter to HER! No, she had
+some end in view, and there were circumstances at which I could guess,
+but which I did not know for certain. True, the slavery and abasement
+in which she held me might have given me (such things often do so) the
+power to question her with abrupt directness (seeing that, inasmuch as
+I figured in her eyes as a mere slave and nonentity, she could not very
+well have taken offence at any rude curiosity); but the fact was that,
+though she let me question her, she never returned me a single answer,
+and at times did not so much as notice me. That is how matters stood.
+
+Next day there was a good deal of talk about a telegram which, four
+days ago, had been sent to St. Petersburg, but to which there had come
+no answer. The General was visibly disturbed and moody, for the matter
+concerned his mother. The Frenchman, too, was excited, and after dinner
+the whole party talked long and seriously together--the Frenchman's
+tone being extraordinarily presumptuous and offhand to everybody. It
+almost reminded one of the proverb, "Invite a man to your table, and
+soon he will place his feet upon it." Even to Polina he was brusque
+almost to the point of rudeness. Yet still he seemed glad to join us in
+our walks in the Casino, or in our rides and drives about the town. I
+had long been aware of certain circumstances which bound the General to
+him; I had long been aware that in Russia they had hatched some scheme
+together although I did not know whether the plot had come to anything,
+or whether it was still only in the stage of being talked of. Likewise
+I was aware, in part, of a family secret--namely, that, last year, the
+Frenchman had bailed the General out of debt, and given him 30,000
+roubles wherewith to pay his Treasury dues on retiring from the
+service. And now, of course, the General was in a vice--although the
+chief part in the affair was being played by Mlle. Blanche. Yes, of
+this last I had no doubt.
+
+But WHO was this Mlle. Blanche? It was said of her that she was a
+Frenchwoman of good birth who, living with her mother, possessed a
+colossal fortune. It was also said that she was some relation to the
+Marquis, but only a distant one a cousin, or cousin-german, or
+something of the sort. Likewise I knew that, up to the time of my
+journey to Paris, she and the Frenchman had been more ceremonious
+towards our party--they had stood on a much more precise and delicate
+footing with them; but that now their acquaintanceship--their
+friendship, their intimacy--had taken on a much more off-hand and
+rough-and-ready air. Perhaps they thought that our means were too
+modest for them, and, therefore, unworthy of politeness or reticence.
+Also, for the last three days I had noticed certain looks which Astley
+had kept throwing at Mlle. Blanche and her mother; and it had occurred
+to me that he must have had some previous acquaintance with the pair. I
+had even surmised that the Frenchman too must have met Mr. Astley
+before. Astley was a man so shy, reserved, and taciturn in his manner
+that one might have looked for anything from him. At all events the
+Frenchman accorded him only the slightest of greetings, and scarcely
+even looked at him. Certainly he did not seem to be afraid of him;
+which was intelligible enough. But why did Mlle. Blanche also never
+look at the Englishman?--particularly since, a propos of something or
+another, the Marquis had declared the Englishman to be immensely and
+indubitably rich? Was not that a sufficient reason to make Mlle.
+Blanche look at the Englishman? Anyway the General seemed extremely
+uneasy; and, one could well understand what a telegram to announce the
+death of his mother would mean for him!
+
+Although I thought it probable that Polina was avoiding me for a
+definite reason, I adopted a cold and indifferent air; for I felt
+pretty certain that it would not be long before she herself approached
+me. For two days, therefore, I devoted my attention to Mlle. Blanche.
+The poor General was in despair! To fall in love at fifty-five, and
+with such vehemence, is indeed a misfortune! And add to that his
+widowerhood, his children, his ruined property, his debts, and the
+woman with whom he had fallen in love! Though Mlle. Blanche was
+extremely good-looking, I may or may not be understood when I say that
+she had one of those faces which one is afraid of. At all events, I
+myself have always feared such women. Apparently about twenty-five
+years of age, she was tall and broad-shouldered, with shoulders that
+sloped; yet though her neck and bosom were ample in their proportions,
+her skin was dull yellow in colour, while her hair (which was extremely
+abundant--sufficient to make two coiffures) was as black as Indian ink.
+Add to that a pair of black eyes with yellowish whites, a proud glance,
+gleaming teeth, and lips which were perennially pomaded and redolent of
+musk. As for her dress, it was invariably rich, effective, and chic,
+yet in good taste. Lastly, her feet and hands were astonishing, and her
+voice a deep contralto. Sometimes, when she laughed, she displayed her
+teeth, but at ordinary times her air was taciturn and
+haughty--especially in the presence of Polina and Maria Philipovna. Yet
+she seemed to me almost destitute of education, and even of wits,
+though cunning and suspicious. This, apparently, was not because her
+life had been lacking in incident. Perhaps, if all were known, the
+Marquis was not her kinsman at all, nor her mother, her mother; but
+there was evidence that, in Berlin, where we had first come across the
+pair, they had possessed acquaintances of good standing. As for the
+Marquis himself, I doubt to this day if he was a Marquis--although
+about the fact that he had formerly belonged to high society (for
+instance, in Moscow and Germany) there could be no doubt whatever. What
+he had formerly been in France I had not a notion. All I knew was that
+he was said to possess a chateau. During the last two weeks I had
+looked for much to transpire, but am still ignorant whether at that
+time anything decisive ever passed between Mademoiselle and the
+General. Everything seemed to depend upon our means--upon whether the
+General would be able to flourish sufficient money in her face. If ever
+the news should arrive that the grandmother was not dead, Mlle.
+Blanche, I felt sure, would disappear in a twinkling. Indeed, it
+surprised and amused me to observe what a passion for intrigue I was
+developing. But how I loathed it all! With what pleasure would I have
+given everybody and everything the go-by! Only--I could not leave
+Polina. How, then, could I show contempt for those who surrounded her?
+Espionage is a base thing, but--what have I to do with that?
+
+Mr. Astley, too, I found a curious person. I was only sure that he had
+fallen in love with Polina. A remarkable and diverting circumstance is
+the amount which may lie in the mien of a shy and painfully modest man
+who has been touched with the divine passion--especially when he would
+rather sink into the earth than betray himself by a single word or
+look. Though Mr. Astley frequently met us when we were out walking, he
+would merely take off his hat and pass us by, though I knew he was
+dying to join us. Even when invited to do so, he would refuse. Again,
+in places of amusement--in the Casino, at concerts, or near the
+fountain--he was never far from the spot where we were sitting. In
+fact, WHEREVER we were in the Park, in the forest, or on the
+Shlangenberg--one needed but to raise one's eyes and glance around to
+catch sight of at least a PORTION of Mr. Astley's frame sticking
+out--whether on an adjacent path or behind a bush. Yet never did he
+lose any chance of speaking to myself; and, one morning when we had
+met, and exchanged a couple of words, he burst out in his usual abrupt
+way, without saying "Good-morning."
+
+"That Mlle. Blanche," he said. "Well, I have seen a good many women
+like her."
+
+After that he was silent as he looked me meaningly in the face. What he
+meant I did not know, but to my glance of inquiry he returned only a
+dry nod, and a reiterated "It is so." Presently, however, he resumed:
+
+"Does Mlle. Polina like flowers?"
+
+"I really cannot say," was my reply.
+
+"What? You cannot say?" he cried in great astonishment.
+
+"No; I have never noticed whether she does so or not," I repeated with
+a smile.
+
+"Hm! Then I have an idea in my mind," he concluded. Lastly, with a nod,
+he walked away with a pleased expression on his face. The conversation
+had been carried on in execrable French.
+
+
+
+IV
+
+Today has been a day of folly, stupidity, and ineptness. The time is
+now eleven o'clock in the evening, and I am sitting in my room and
+thinking. It all began, this morning, with my being forced to go and
+play roulette for Polina Alexandrovna. When she handed me over her
+store of six hundred gulden I exacted two conditions--namely, that I
+should not go halves with her in her winnings, if any (that is to say,
+I should not take anything for myself), and that she should explain to
+me, that same evening, why it was so necessary for her to win, and how
+much was the sum which she needed. For, I could not suppose that she
+was doing all this merely for the sake of money. Yet clearly she did
+need some money, and that as soon as possible, and for a special
+purpose. Well, she promised to explain matters, and I departed. There
+was a tremendous crowd in the gaming-rooms. What an arrogant, greedy
+crowd it was! I pressed forward towards the middle of the room until I
+had secured a seat at a croupier's elbow. Then I began to play in timid
+fashion, venturing only twenty or thirty gulden at a time. Meanwhile, I
+observed and took notes. It seemed to me that calculation was
+superfluous, and by no means possessed of the importance which certain
+other players attached to it, even though they sat with ruled papers in
+their hands, whereon they set down the coups, calculated the chances,
+reckoned, staked, and--lost exactly as we more simple mortals did who
+played without any reckoning at all.
+
+However, I deduced from the scene one conclusion which seemed to me
+reliable--namely, that in the flow of fortuitous chances there is, if
+not a system, at all events a sort of order. This, of course, is a very
+strange thing. For instance, after a dozen middle figures there would
+always occur a dozen or so outer ones. Suppose the ball stopped twice
+at a dozen outer figures; it would then pass to a dozen of the first
+ones, and then, again, to a dozen of the middle ciphers, and fall upon
+them three or four times, and then revert to a dozen outers; whence,
+after another couple of rounds, the ball would again pass to the first
+figures, strike upon them once, and then return thrice to the middle
+series--continuing thus for an hour and a half, or two hours. One,
+three, two: one, three, two. It was all very curious. Again, for the
+whole of a day or a morning the red would alternate with the black, but
+almost without any order, and from moment to moment, so that scarcely
+two consecutive rounds would end upon either the one or the other. Yet,
+next day, or, perhaps, the next evening, the red alone would turn up,
+and attain a run of over two score, and continue so for quite a length
+of time--say, for a whole day. Of these circumstances the majority were
+pointed out to me by Mr. Astley, who stood by the gaming-table the
+whole morning, yet never once staked in person.
+
+For myself, I lost all that I had on me, and with great speed. To begin
+with, I staked two hundred gulden on "even," and won. Then I staked the
+same amount again, and won: and so on some two or three times. At one
+moment I must have had in my hands--gathered there within a space of
+five minutes--about 4000 gulden. That, of course, was the proper moment
+for me to have departed, but there arose in me a strange sensation as
+of a challenge to Fate--as of a wish to deal her a blow on the cheek,
+and to put out my tongue at her. Accordingly I set down the largest
+stake allowed by the rules--namely, 4000 gulden--and lost. Fired by
+this mishap, I pulled out all the money left to me, staked it all on
+the same venture, and--again lost! Then I rose from the table, feeling
+as though I were stupefied. What had happened to me I did not know;
+but, before luncheon I told Polina of my losses--until which time I
+walked about the Park.
+
+At luncheon I was as excited as I had been at the meal three days ago.
+Mlle. Blanche and the Frenchman were lunching with us, and it appeared
+that the former had been to the Casino that morning, and had seen my
+exploits there. So now she showed me more attention when talking to me;
+while, for his part, the Frenchman approached me, and asked outright if
+it had been my own money that I had lost. He appeared to be suspicious
+as to something being on foot between Polina and myself, but I merely
+fired up, and replied that the money had been all my own.
+
+At this the General seemed extremely surprised, and asked me whence I
+had procured it; whereupon I replied that, though I had begun only with
+100 gulden, six or seven rounds had increased my capital to 5000 or
+6000 gulden, and that subsequently I had lost the whole in two rounds.
+
+All this, of course, was plausible enough. During my recital I glanced
+at Polina, but nothing was to be discerned on her face. However, she
+had allowed me to fire up without correcting me, and from that I
+concluded that it was my cue to fire up, and to conceal the fact that I
+had been playing on her behalf. "At all events," I thought to myself,
+"she, in her turn, has promised to give me an explanation to-night, and
+to reveal to me something or another."
+
+Although the General appeared to be taking stock of me, he said
+nothing. Yet I could see uneasiness and annoyance in his face. Perhaps
+his straitened circumstances made it hard for him to have to hear of
+piles of gold passing through the hands of an irresponsible fool like
+myself within the space of a quarter of an hour. Now, I have an idea
+that, last night, he and the Frenchman had a sharp encounter with one
+another. At all events they closeted themselves together, and then had
+a long and vehement discussion; after which the Frenchman departed in
+what appeared to be a passion, but returned, early this morning, to
+renew the combat. On hearing of my losses, however, he only remarked
+with a sharp, and even a malicious, air that "a man ought to go more
+carefully." Next, for some reason or another, he added that, "though a
+great many Russians go in for gambling, they are no good at the game."
+
+"I think that roulette was devised specially for Russians," I retorted;
+and when the Frenchman smiled contemptuously at my reply I further
+remarked that I was sure I was right; also that, speaking of Russians
+in the capacity of gamblers, I had far more blame for them than
+praise--of that he could be quite sure.
+
+"Upon what do you base your opinion?" he inquired.
+
+"Upon the fact that to the virtues and merits of the civilised
+Westerner there has become historically added--though this is not his
+chief point--a capacity for acquiring capital; whereas, not only is the
+Russian incapable of acquiring capital, but also he exhausts it
+wantonly and of sheer folly. None the less we Russians often need
+money; wherefore, we are glad of, and greatly devoted to, a method of
+acquisition like roulette--whereby, in a couple of hours, one may grow
+rich without doing any work. This method, I repeat, has a great
+attraction for us, but since we play in wanton fashion, and without
+taking any trouble, we almost invariably lose."
+
+"To a certain extent that is true," assented the Frenchman with a
+self-satisfied air.
+
+"Oh no, it is not true," put in the General sternly. "And you," he
+added to me, "you ought to be ashamed of yourself for traducing your
+own country!"
+
+"I beg pardon," I said. "Yet it would be difficult to say which is the
+worst of the two--Russian ineptitude or the German method of growing
+rich through honest toil."
+
+"What an extraordinary idea," cried the General.
+
+"And what a RUSSIAN idea!" added the Frenchman.
+
+I smiled, for I was rather glad to have a quarrel with them.
+
+"I would rather live a wandering life in tents," I cried, "than bow the
+knee to a German idol!"
+
+"To WHAT idol?" exclaimed the General, now seriously angry.
+
+"To the German method of heaping up riches. I have not been here very
+long, but I can tell you that what I have seen and verified makes my
+Tartar blood boil. Good Lord! I wish for no virtues of that kind.
+Yesterday I went for a walk of about ten versts; and, everywhere I
+found that things were even as we read of them in good German
+picture-books--that every house has its 'Fater,' who is horribly
+beneficent and extraordinarily honourable. So honourable is he that it
+is dreadful to have anything to do with him; and I cannot bear people
+of that sort. Each such 'Fater' has his family, and in the evenings
+they read improving books aloud. Over their roof-trees there murmur
+elms and chestnuts; the sun has sunk to his rest; a stork is roosting
+on the gable; and all is beautifully poetic and touching. Do not be
+angry, General. Let me tell you something that is even more touching
+than that. I can remember how, of an evening, my own father, now dead,
+used to sit under the lime trees in his little garden, and to read
+books aloud to myself and my mother. Yes, I know how things ought to be
+done. Yet every German family is bound to slavery and to submission to
+its 'Fater.' They work like oxen, and amass wealth like Jews. Suppose
+the 'Fater' has put by a certain number of gulden which he hands over
+to his eldest son, in order that the said son may acquire a trade or a
+small plot of land. Well, one result is to deprive the daughter of a
+dowry, and so leave her among the unwedded. For the same reason, the
+parents will have to sell the younger son into bondage or the ranks of
+the army, in order that he may earn more towards the family capital.
+Yes, such things ARE done, for I have been making inquiries on the
+subject. It is all done out of sheer rectitude--out of a rectitude
+which is magnified to the point of the younger son believing that he
+has been RIGHTLY sold, and that it is simply idyllic for the victim to
+rejoice when he is made over into pledge. What more have I to tell?
+Well, this--that matters bear just as hardly upon the eldest son.
+Perhaps he has his Gretchen to whom his heart is bound; but he cannot
+marry her, for the reason that he has not yet amassed sufficient
+gulden. So, the pair wait on in a mood of sincere and virtuous
+expectation, and smilingly deposit themselves in pawn the while.
+Gretchen's cheeks grow sunken, and she begins to wither; until at last,
+after some twenty years, their substance has multiplied, and sufficient
+gulden have been honourably and virtuously accumulated. Then the
+'Fater' blesses his forty-year-old heir and the thirty-five-year-old
+Gretchen with the sunken bosom and the scarlet nose; after which he
+bursts, into tears, reads the pair a lesson on morality, and dies. In
+turn the eldest son becomes a virtuous 'Fater,' and the old story
+begins again. In fifty or sixty years' time the grandson of the
+original 'Fater' will have amassed a considerable sum; and that sum he
+will hand over to, his son, and the latter to HIS son, and so on for
+several generations; until at length there will issue a Baron
+Rothschild, or a 'Hoppe and Company,' or the devil knows what! Is it
+not a beautiful spectacle--the spectacle of a century or two of
+inherited labour, patience, intellect, rectitude, character,
+perseverance, and calculation, with a stork sitting on the roof above
+it all? What is more; they think there can never be anything better
+than this; wherefore, from their point of view they begin to judge the
+rest of the world, and to censure all who are at fault--that is to say,
+who are not exactly like themselves. Yes, there you have it in a
+nutshell. For my own part, I would rather grow fat after the Russian
+manner, or squander my whole substance at roulette. I have no wish to
+be 'Hoppe and Company' at the end of five generations. I want the money
+for MYSELF, for in no way do I look upon my personality as necessary
+to, or meet to be given over to, capital. I may be wrong, but there you
+have it. Those are MY views."
+
+"How far you may be right in what you have said I do not know,"
+remarked the General moodily; "but I DO know that you are becoming an
+insufferable farceur whenever you are given the least chance."
+
+As usual, he left his sentence unfinished. Indeed, whenever he embarked
+upon anything that in the least exceeded the limits of daily
+small-talk, he left unfinished what he was saying. The Frenchman had
+listened to me contemptuously, with a slight protruding of his eyes;
+but, he could not have understood very much of my harangue. As for
+Polina, she had looked on with serene indifference. She seemed to have
+heard neither my voice nor any other during the progress of the meal.
+
+
+
+V
+
+Yes, she had been extraordinarily meditative. Yet, on leaving the
+table, she immediately ordered me to accompany her for a walk. We took
+the children with us, and set out for the fountain in the Park.
+
+I was in such an irritated frame of mind that in rude and abrupt
+fashion I blurted out a question as to "why our Marquis de Griers had
+ceased to accompany her for strolls, or to speak to her for days
+together."
+
+"Because he is a brute," she replied in rather a curious way. It was
+the first time that I had heard her speak so of De Griers:
+consequently, I was momentarily awed into silence by this expression of
+resentment.
+
+"Have you noticed, too, that today he is by no means on good terms with
+the General?" I went on.
+
+"Yes--and I suppose you want to know why," she replied with dry
+captiousness. "You are aware, are you not, that the General is
+mortgaged to the Marquis, with all his property? Consequently, if the
+General's mother does not die, the Frenchman will become the absolute
+possessor of everything which he now holds only in pledge."
+
+"Then it is really the case that everything is mortgaged? I have heard
+rumours to that effect, but was unaware how far they might be true."
+
+"Yes, they ARE true. What then?"
+
+"Why, it will be a case of 'Farewell, Mlle. Blanche,'" I remarked; "for
+in such an event she would never become Madame General. Do you know, I
+believe the old man is so much in love with her that he will shoot
+himself if she should throw him over. At his age it is a dangerous
+thing to fall in love."
+
+"Yes, something, I believe, WILL happen to him," assented Polina
+thoughtfully.
+
+"And what a fine thing it all is!" I continued. "Could anything be more
+abominable than the way in which she has agreed to marry for money
+alone? Not one of the decencies has been observed; the whole affair has
+taken place without the least ceremony. And as for the grandmother,
+what could be more comical, yet more dastardly, than the sending of
+telegram after telegram to know if she is dead? What do you think of
+it, Polina Alexandrovna?"
+
+"Yes, it is very horrible," she interrupted with a shudder.
+"Consequently, I am the more surprised that YOU should be so cheerful.
+What are YOU so pleased about? About the fact that you have gone and
+lost my money?"
+
+"What? The money that you gave me to lose? I told you I should never
+win for other people--least of all for you. I obeyed you simply because
+you ordered me to; but you must not blame me for the result. I warned
+you that no good would ever come of it. You seem much depressed at
+having lost your money. Why do you need it so greatly?"
+
+"Why do YOU ask me these questions?"
+
+"Because you promised to explain matters to me. Listen. I am certain
+that, as soon as ever I 'begin to play for myself' (and I still have
+120 gulden left), I shall win. You can then take of me what you
+require."
+
+She made a contemptuous grimace.
+
+"You must not be angry with me," I continued, "for making such a
+proposal. I am so conscious of being only a nonentity in your eyes that
+you need not mind accepting money from me. A gift from me could not
+possibly offend you. Moreover, it was I who lost your gulden."
+
+She glanced at me, but, seeing that I was in an irritable, sarcastic
+mood, changed the subject.
+
+"My affairs cannot possibly interest you," she said. "Still, if you DO
+wish to know, I am in debt. I borrowed some money, and must pay it back
+again. I have a curious, senseless idea that I am bound to win at the
+gaming-tables. Why I think so I cannot tell, but I do think so, and
+with some assurance. Perhaps it is because of that assurance that I now
+find myself without any other resource."
+
+"Or perhaps it is because it is so NECESSARY for you to win. It is like
+a drowning man catching at a straw. You yourself will agree that,
+unless he were drowning he would not mistake a straw for the trunk of a
+tree."
+
+Polina looked surprised.
+
+"What?" she said. "Do not you also hope something from it? Did you not
+tell me again and again, two weeks ago, that you were certain of
+winning at roulette if you played here? And did you not ask me not to
+consider you a fool for doing so? Were you joking? You cannot have
+been, for I remember that you spoke with a gravity which forbade the
+idea of your jesting."
+
+"True," I replied gloomily. "I always felt certain that I should win.
+Indeed, what you say makes me ask myself--Why have my absurd, senseless
+losses of today raised a doubt in my mind? Yet I am still positive
+that, so soon as ever I begin to play for myself, I shall infallibly
+win."
+
+"And why are you so certain?"
+
+"To tell the truth, I do not know. I only know that I must win--that it
+is the one resource I have left. Yes, why do I feel so assured on the
+point?"
+
+"Perhaps because one cannot help winning if one is fanatically certain
+of doing so."
+
+"Yet I dare wager that you do not think me capable of serious feeling
+in the matter?"
+
+"I do not care whether you are so or not," answered Polina with calm
+indifference. "Well, since you ask me, I DO doubt your ability to take
+anything seriously. You are capable of worrying, but not deeply. You
+are too ill-regulated and unsettled a person for that. But why do you
+want money? Not a single one of the reasons which you have given can be
+looked upon as serious."
+
+"By the way," I interrupted, "you say you want to pay off a debt. It
+must be a large one. Is it to the Frenchman?"
+
+"What do you mean by asking all these questions? You are very clever
+today. Surely you are not drunk?"
+
+"You know that you and I stand on no ceremony, and that sometimes I put
+to you very plain questions. I repeat that I am your slave--and slaves
+cannot be shamed or offended."
+
+"You talk like a child. It is always possible to comport oneself with
+dignity. If one has a quarrel it ought to elevate rather than to
+degrade one."
+
+"A maxim straight from the copybook! Suppose I CANNOT comport myself
+with dignity. By that I mean that, though I am a man of self-respect, I
+am unable to carry off a situation properly. Do you know the reason? It
+is because we Russians are too richly and multifariously gifted to be
+able at once to find the proper mode of expression. It is all a
+question of mode. Most of us are so bounteously endowed with intellect
+as to require also a spice of genius to choose the right form of
+behaviour. And genius is lacking in us for the reason that so little
+genius at all exists. It belongs only to the French--though a few other
+Europeans have elaborated their forms so well as to be able to figure
+with extreme dignity, and yet be wholly undignified persons. That is
+why, with us, the mode is so all-important. The Frenchman may receive
+an insult--a real, a venomous insult: yet, he will not so much as
+frown. But a tweaking of the nose he cannot bear, for the reason that
+such an act is an infringement of the accepted, of the time-hallowed
+order of decorum. That is why our good ladies are so fond of
+Frenchmen--the Frenchman's manners, they say, are perfect! But in my
+opinion there is no such thing as a Frenchman's manners. The Frenchman
+is only a bird--the coq gaulois. At the same time, as I am not a woman,
+I do not properly understand the question. Cocks may be excellent
+birds.  If I am wrong you must stop me. You ought to stop and correct
+me more often when I am speaking to you, for I am too apt to say
+everything that is in my head.
+
+"You see, I have lost my manners. I agree that I have none, nor yet any
+dignity. I will tell you why. I set no store upon such things.
+Everything in me has undergone a cheek. You know the reason. I have not
+a single human thought in my head. For a long while I have been
+ignorant of what is going on in the world--here or in Russia. I have
+been to Dresden, yet am completely in the dark as to what Dresden is
+like. You know the cause of my obsession. I have no hope now, and am a
+mere cipher in your eyes; wherefore, I tell you outright that wherever
+I go I see only you--all the rest is a matter of indifference.
+
+"Why or how I have come to love you I do not know. It may be that you
+are not altogether fair to look upon. Do you know, I am ignorant even
+as to what your face is like. In all probability, too, your heart is
+not comely, and it is possible that your mind is wholly ignoble."
+
+"And because you do not believe in my nobility of soul you think to
+purchase me with money?" she said.
+
+"WHEN have I thought to do so?" was my reply.
+
+"You are losing the thread of the argument. If you do not wish to
+purchase me, at all events you wish to purchase my respect."
+
+"Not at all. I have told you that I find it difficult to explain
+myself. You are hard upon me. Do not be angry at my chattering. You
+know why you ought not to be angry with me--that I am simply an
+imbecile. However, I do not mind if you ARE angry. Sitting in my room,
+I need but to think of you, to imagine to myself the rustle of your
+dress, and at once I fall almost to biting my hands. Why should you be
+angry with me? Because I call myself your slave? Revel, I pray you, in
+my slavery--revel in it. Do you know that sometimes I could kill
+you?--not because I do not love you, or am jealous of you, but, because
+I feel as though I could simply devour you... You are laughing!"
+
+"No, I am not," she retorted. "But I order you, nevertheless, to be
+silent."
+
+She stopped, well nigh breathless with anger. God knows, she may not
+have been a beautiful woman, yet I loved to see her come to a halt like
+this, and was therefore, the more fond of arousing her temper. Perhaps
+she divined this, and for that very reason gave way to rage. I said as
+much to her.
+
+"What rubbish!" she cried with a shudder.
+
+"I do not care," I continued. "Also, do you know that it is not safe
+for us to take walks together? Often I have a feeling that I should
+like to strike you, to disfigure you, to strangle you. Are you certain
+that it will never come to that? You are driving me to frenzy. Am I
+afraid of a scandal, or of your anger? Why should I fear your anger? I
+love without hope, and know that hereafter I shall love you a thousand
+times more. If ever I should kill you I should have to kill myself too.
+But I shall put off doing so as long as possible, for I wish to
+continue enjoying the unbearable pain which your coldness gives me. Do
+you know a very strange thing? It is that, with every day, my love for
+you increases--though that would seem to be almost an impossibility.
+Why should I not become a fatalist? Remember how, on the third day that
+we ascended the Shlangenberg, I was moved to whisper in your ear: 'Say
+but the word, and I will leap into the abyss.' Had you said it, I
+should have leapt. Do you not believe me?"
+
+"What stupid rubbish!" she cried.
+
+"I care not whether it be wise or stupid," I cried in return. "I only
+know that in your presence I must speak, speak, speak. Therefore, I am
+speaking. I lose all conceit when I am with you, and everything ceases
+to matter."
+
+"Why should I have wanted you to leap from the Shlangenberg?" she said
+drily, and (I think) with wilful offensiveness. "THAT would have been
+of no use to me."
+
+"Splendid!" I shouted. "I know well that you must have used the words
+'of no use' in order to crush me. I can see through you. 'Of no use,'
+did you say? Why, to give pleasure is ALWAYS of use; and, as for
+barbarous, unlimited power--even if it be only over a fly--why, it is a
+kind of luxury. Man is a despot by nature, and loves to torture. You,
+in particular, love to do so."
+
+I remember that at this moment she looked at me in a peculiar way. The
+fact is that my face must have been expressing all the maze of
+senseless, gross sensations which were seething within me. To this day
+I can remember, word for word, the conversation as I have written it
+down. My eyes were suffused with blood, and the foam had caked itself
+on my lips. Also, on my honour I swear that, had she bidden me cast
+myself from the summit of the Shlangenberg, I should have done it. Yes,
+had she bidden me in jest, or only in contempt and with a spit in my
+face, I should have cast myself down.
+
+"Oh no! Why so? I believe you," she said, but in such a manner--in the
+manner of which, at times, she was a mistress--and with such a note of
+disdain and viperish arrogance in her tone, that God knows I could have
+killed her.
+
+Yes, at that moment she stood in peril. I had not lied to her about
+that.
+
+"Surely you are not a coward?" suddenly she asked me.
+
+"I do not know," I replied. "Perhaps I am, but I do not know. I have
+long given up thinking about such things."
+
+"If I said to you, 'Kill that man,' would you kill him?"
+
+"Whom?"
+
+"Whomsoever I wish?"
+
+"The Frenchman?"
+
+"Do not ask me questions; return me answers. I repeat, whomsoever I
+wish? I desire to see if you were speaking seriously just now."
+
+She awaited my reply with such gravity and impatience that I found the
+situation unpleasant.
+
+"Do YOU, rather, tell me," I said, "what is going on here? Why do you
+seem half-afraid of me? I can see for myself what is wrong. You are the
+step-daughter of a ruined and insensate man who is smitten with love
+for this devil of a Blanche. And there is this Frenchman, too, with his
+mysterious influence over you. Yet, you actually ask me such a
+question! If you do not tell me how things stand, I shall have to put
+in my oar and do something. Are you ashamed to be frank with me? Are
+you shy of me?"
+
+"I am not going to talk to you on that subject. I have asked you a
+question, and am waiting for an answer."
+
+"Well, then--I will kill whomsoever you wish," I said. "But are you
+REALLY going to bid me do such deeds?"
+
+"Why should you think that I am going to let you off? I shall bid you
+do it, or else renounce me. Could you ever do the latter? No, you know
+that you couldn't. You would first kill whom I had bidden you, and then
+kill ME for having dared to send you away!"
+
+Something seemed to strike upon my brain as I heard these words. Of
+course, at the time I took them half in jest and half as a challenge;
+yet, she had spoken them with great seriousness. I felt thunderstruck
+that she should so express herself, that she should assert such a right
+over me, that she should assume such authority and say outright:
+"Either you kill whom I bid you, or I will have nothing more to do with
+you." Indeed, in what she had said there was something so cynical and
+unveiled as to pass all bounds. For how could she ever regard me as the
+same after the killing was done? This was more than slavery and
+abasement; it was sufficient to bring a man back to his right senses.
+Yet, despite the outrageous improbability of our conversation, my heart
+shook within me.
+
+Suddenly, she burst out laughing. We were seated on a bench near the
+spot where the children were playing--just opposite the point in the
+alley-way before the Casino where the carriages drew up in order to set
+down their occupants.
+
+"Do you see that fat Baroness?" she cried. "It is the Baroness
+Burmergelm. She arrived three days ago. Just look at her husband--that
+tall, wizened Prussian there, with the stick in his hand. Do you
+remember how he stared at us the other day? Well, go to the Baroness,
+take off your hat to her, and say something in French."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because you have sworn that you would leap from the Shlangenberg for
+my sake, and that you would kill any one whom I might bid you kill.
+Well, instead of such murders and tragedies, I wish only for a good
+laugh. Go without answering me, and let me see the Baron give you a
+sound thrashing with his stick."
+
+"Then you throw me out a challenge?--you think that I will not do it?"
+
+"Yes, I do challenge you. Go, for such is my will."
+
+"Then I WILL go, however mad be your fancy. Only, look here: shall you
+not be doing the General a great disservice, as well as, through him, a
+great disservice to yourself? It is not about myself I am worrying--it
+is about you and the General. Why, for a mere fancy, should I go and
+insult a woman?"
+
+"Ah! Then I can see that you are only a trifler," she said
+contemptuously. "Your eyes are swimming with blood--but only because
+you have drunk a little too much at luncheon. Do I not know that what I
+have asked you to do is foolish and wrong, and that the General will be
+angry about it? But I want to have a good laugh, all the same. I want
+that, and nothing else. Why should you insult a woman, indeed? Well,
+you will be given a sound thrashing for so doing."
+
+I turned away, and went silently to do her bidding. Of course the thing
+was folly, but I could not get out of it. I remember that, as I
+approached the Baroness, I felt as excited as a schoolboy. I was in a
+frenzy, as though I were drunk.
+
+
+
+VI
+
+Two days have passed since that day of lunacy. What a noise and a fuss
+and a chattering and an uproar there was! And what a welter of
+unseemliness and disorder and stupidity and bad manners! And I the
+cause of it all! Yet part of the scene was also ridiculous--at all
+events to myself it was so. I am not quite sure what was the matter
+with me--whether I was merely stupefied or whether I purposely broke
+loose and ran amok. At times my mind seems all confused; while at other
+times I seem almost to be back in my childhood, at the school desk, and
+to have done the deed simply out of mischief.
+
+It all came of Polina--yes, of Polina. But for her, there might never
+have been a fracas. Or perhaps I did the deed in a fit of despair
+(though it may be foolish of me to think so)? What there is so
+attractive about her I cannot think. Yet there IS something attractive
+about her--something passing fair, it would seem. Others besides myself
+she has driven to distraction. She is tall and straight, and very slim.
+Her body looks as though it could be tied into a knot, or bent double,
+like a cord. The imprint of her foot is long and narrow. It is, a
+maddening imprint--yes, simply a maddening one! And her hair has a
+reddish tint about it, and her eyes are like cat's eyes--though able
+also to glance with proud, disdainful mien. On the evening of my first
+arrival, four months ago, I remember that she was sitting and holding
+an animated conversation with De Griers in the salon. And the way in
+which she looked at him was such that later, when I retired to my own
+room upstairs, I kept fancying that she had smitten him in the
+face--that she had smitten him right on the cheek, so peculiar had been
+her look as she stood confronting him. Ever since that evening I have
+loved her.
+
+But to my tale.
+
+I stepped from the path into the carriage-way, and took my stand in the
+middle of it. There I awaited the Baron and the Baroness. When they
+were but a few paces distant from me I took off my hat, and bowed.
+
+I remember that the Baroness was clad in a voluminous silk dress, pale
+grey in colour, and adorned with flounces and a crinoline and train.
+Also, she was short and inordinately stout, while her gross, flabby
+chin completely concealed her neck. Her face was purple, and the little
+eyes in it had an impudent, malicious expression. Yet she walked as
+though she were conferring a favour upon everybody by so doing. As for
+the Baron, he was tall, wizened, bony-faced after the German fashion,
+spectacled, and, apparently, about forty-five years of age. Also, he
+had legs which seemed to begin almost at his chest--or, rather, at his
+chin! Yet, for all his air of peacock-like conceit, his clothes sagged
+a little, and his face wore a sheepish air which might have passed for
+profundity.
+
+These details I noted within a space of a few seconds.
+
+At first my bow and the fact that I had my hat in my hand barely caught
+their attention. The Baron only scowled a little, and the Baroness
+swept straight on.
+
+"Madame la Baronne," said I, loudly and distinctly--embroidering each
+word, as it were--"j'ai l'honneur d'etre votre esclave."
+
+Then I bowed again, put on my hat, and walked past the Baron with a
+rude smile on my face.
+
+Polina had ordered me merely to take off my hat: the bow and the
+general effrontery were of my own invention. God knows what instigated
+me to perpetrate the outrage! In my frenzy I felt as though I were
+walking on air.
+
+"Hein!" ejaculated--or, rather, growled--the Baron as he turned towards
+me in angry surprise.
+
+I too turned round, and stood waiting in pseudo-courteous expectation.
+Yet still I wore on my face an impudent smile as I gazed at him. He
+seemed to hesitate, and his brows contracted to their utmost limits.
+Every moment his visage was growing darker. The Baroness also turned in
+my direction, and gazed at me in wrathful perplexity, while some of the
+passers-by also began to stare at us, and others of them halted
+outright.
+
+"Hein!" the Baron vociferated again, with a redoubled growl and a note
+of growing wrath in his voice.
+
+"Ja wohl!" I replied, still looking him in the eyes.
+
+"Sind sie rasend?" he exclaimed, brandishing his stick, and,
+apparently, beginning to feel nervous. Perhaps it was my costume which
+intimidated him, for I was well and fashionably dressed, after the
+manner of a man who belongs to indisputably good society.
+
+"Ja wo-o-ohl!" cried I again with all my might with a longdrawn rolling
+of the "ohl" sound after the fashion of the Berliners (who constantly
+use the phrase "Ja wohl!" in conversation, and more or less prolong the
+syllable "ohl" according as they desire to express different shades of
+meaning or of mood).
+
+At this the Baron and the Baroness faced sharply about, and almost fled
+in their alarm. Some of the bystanders gave vent to excited
+exclamations, and others remained staring at me in astonishment. But I
+do not remember the details very well.
+
+Wheeling quietly about, I returned in the direction of Polina
+Alexandrovna. But, when I had got within a hundred paces of her seat, I
+saw her rise and set out with the children towards the hotel.
+
+At the portico I caught up to her.
+
+"I have perpetrated the--the piece of idiocy," I said as I came level
+with her.
+
+"Have you? Then you can take the consequences," she replied without so
+much as looking at me. Then she moved towards the staircase.
+
+I spent the rest of the evening walking in the park. Thence I passed
+into the forest, and walked on until I found myself in a neighbouring
+principality. At a wayside restaurant I partook of an omelette and some
+wine, and was charged for the idyllic repast a thaler and a half.
+
+Not until eleven o'clock did I return home--to find a summons awaiting
+me from the General.
+
+Our party occupied two suites in the hotel; each of which contained two
+rooms. The first (the larger suite) comprised a salon and a
+smoking-room, with, adjoining the latter, the General's study. It was
+here that he was awaiting me as he stood posed in a majestic attitude
+beside his writing-table. Lolling on a divan close by was De Griers.
+
+"My good sir," the General began, "may I ask you what this is that you
+have gone and done?"
+
+"I should be glad," I replied, "if we could come straight to the point.
+Probably you are referring to my encounter of today with a German?"
+
+"With a German? Why, the German was the Baron Burmergelm--a most
+important personage! I hear that you have been rude both to him and to
+the Baroness?"
+
+"No, I have not."
+
+"But I understand that you simply terrified them, my good sir?" shouted
+the General.
+
+"Not in the least," I replied. "You must know that when I was in Berlin
+I frequently used to hear the Berliners repeat, and repellently
+prolong, a certain phrase--namely, 'Ja wohl!'; and, happening to meet
+this couple in the carriage-drive, I found, for some reason or another,
+that this phrase suddenly recurred to my memory, and exercised a
+rousing effect upon my spirits. Moreover, on the three previous
+occasions that I have met the Baroness she has walked towards me as
+though I were a worm which could easily be crushed with the foot. Not
+unnaturally, I too possess a measure of self-respect; wherefore, on
+THIS occasion I took off my hat, and said politely (yes, I assure you
+it was said politely): 'Madame, j'ai l'honneur d'etre votre esclave.'
+Then the Baron turned round, and said 'Hein!'; whereupon I felt moved
+to ejaculate in answer 'Ja wohl!' Twice I shouted it at him--the first
+time in an ordinary tone, and the second time with the greatest
+prolonging of the words of which I was capable. That is all."
+
+I must confess that this puerile explanation gave me great pleasure. I
+felt a strong desire to overlay the incident with an even added measure
+of grossness; so, the further I proceeded, the more did the gusto of my
+proceeding increase.
+
+"You are only making fun of me!" vociferated the General as, turning to
+the Frenchman, he declared that my bringing about of the incident had
+been gratuitous. De Griers smiled contemptuously, and shrugged his
+shoulders.
+
+"Do not think THAT," I put in. "It was not so at all. I grant you that
+my behaviour was bad--I fully confess that it was so, and make no
+secret of the fact. I would even go so far as to grant you that my
+behaviour might well be called stupid and indecent tomfoolery; but,
+MORE than that it was not. Also, let me tell you that I am very sorry
+for my conduct. Yet there is one circumstance which, in my eyes, almost
+absolves me from regret in the matter. Of late--that is to say, for the
+last two or three weeks--I have been feeling not at all well. That is
+to say, I have been in a sick, nervous, irritable, fanciful condition,
+so that I have periodically lost control over myself. For instance, on
+more than one occasion I have tried to pick a quarrel even with
+Monsieur le Marquise here; and, under the circumstances, he had no
+choice but to answer me. In short, I have recently been showing signs
+of ill-health. Whether the Baroness Burmergelm will take this
+circumstance into consideration when I come to beg her pardon (for I do
+intend to make her amends) I do not know; but I doubt if she will, and
+the less so since, so far as I know, the circumstance is one which, of
+late, has begun to be abused in the legal world, in that advocates in
+criminal cases have taken to justifying their clients on the ground
+that, at the moment of the crime, they (the clients) were unconscious
+of what they were doing--that, in short, they were out of health. 'My
+client committed the murder--that is true; but he has no recollection
+of having committed it.' And doctors actually support these advocates
+by affirming that there really is such a malady--that there really can
+arise temporary delusions which make a man remember nothing of a given
+deed, or only a half or a quarter of it! But the Baron and Baroness are
+members of an older generation, as well as Prussian Junkers and
+landowners. To them such a process in the medico-judicial world will be
+unknown, and therefore, they are the more unlikely to accept any such
+explanation. What is YOUR opinion about it, General?"
+
+"Enough, sir!" he thundered with barely restrained fury. "Enough, I
+say! Once and for all I must endeavour to rid myself of you and your
+impertinence. To justify yourself in the eyes of the Baron and Baroness
+will be impossible. Any intercourse with you, even though it be
+confined to a begging of their pardons, they would look upon as a
+degradation. I may tell you that, on learning that you formed part of,
+my household, the Baron approached me in the Casino, and demanded of me
+additional satisfaction. Do you understand, then, what it is that you
+have entailed upon me--upon ME, my good sir? You have entailed upon me
+the fact of my being forced to sue humbly to the Baron, and to give him
+my word of honour that this very day you shall cease to belong to my
+establishment!"
+
+"Excuse me, General," I interrupted, "but did he make an express point
+of it that I should 'cease to belong to your establishment,' as you
+call it?"
+
+"No; I, of my own initiative, thought that I ought to afford him that
+satisfaction; and, with it he was satisfied. So we must part, good sir.
+It is my duty to hand over to you forty gulden, three florins, as per
+the accompanying statement. Here is the money, and here the account,
+which you are at liberty to verify. Farewell. From henceforth we are
+strangers. From you I have never had anything but trouble and
+unpleasantness. I am about to call the landlord, and explain to him
+that from tomorrow onwards I shall no longer be responsible for your
+hotel expenses. Also I have the honour to remain your obedient servant."
+
+I took the money and the account (which was indicted in pencil), and,
+bowing low to the General, said to him very gravely:
+
+"The matter cannot end here. I regret very much that you should have
+been put to unpleasantness at the Baron's hands; but, the fault (pardon
+me) is your own. How came you to answer for me to the Baron? And what
+did you mean by saying that I formed part of your household? I am
+merely your family tutor--not a son of yours, nor yet your ward, nor a
+person of any kind for whose acts you need be responsible. I am a
+judicially competent person, a man of twenty-five years of age, a
+university graduate, a gentleman, and, until I met yourself, a complete
+stranger to you. Only my boundless respect for your merits restrains me
+from demanding satisfaction at your hands, as well as a further
+explanation as to the reasons which have led you to take it upon
+yourself to answer for my conduct."
+
+So struck was he with my words that, spreading out his hands, he turned
+to the Frenchman, and interpreted to him that I had challenged himself
+(the General) to a duel. The Frenchman laughed aloud.
+
+"Nor do I intend to let the Baron off," I continued calmly, but with
+not a little discomfiture at De Griers' merriment. "And since you,
+General, have today been so good as to listen to the Baron's
+complaints, and to enter into his concerns--since you have made
+yourself a participator in the affair--I have the honour to inform you
+that, tomorrow morning at the latest, I shall, in my own name, demand
+of the said Baron a formal explanation as to the reasons which have led
+him to disregard the fact that the matter lies between him and myself
+alone, and to put a slight upon me by referring it to another person,
+as though I were unworthy to answer for my own conduct."
+
+Then there happened what I had foreseen. The General on hearing of this
+further intended outrage, showed the white feather.
+
+"What?" he cried. "Do you intend to go on with this damned nonsense? Do
+you not realise the harm that it is doing me? I beg of you not to laugh
+at me, sir--not to laugh at me, for we have police authorities here
+who, out of respect for my rank, and for that of the Baron...  In
+short, sir, I swear to you that I will have you arrested, and marched
+out of the place, to prevent any further brawling on your part. Do you
+understand what I say?" He was almost breathless with anger, as well as
+in a terrible fright.
+
+"General," I replied with that calmness which he never could abide,
+"one cannot arrest a man for brawling until he has brawled. I have not
+so much as begun my explanations to the Baron, and you are altogether
+ignorant as to the form and time which my intended procedure is likely
+to assume. I wish but to disabuse the Baron of what is, to me, a
+shameful supposition--namely, that I am under the guardianship of a
+person who is qualified to exercise control over my free will. It is
+vain for you to disturb and alarm yourself."
+
+"For God's sake, Alexis Ivanovitch, do put an end to this senseless
+scheme of yours!" he muttered, but with a sudden change from a
+truculent tone to one of entreaty as he caught me by the hand. "Do you
+know what is likely to come of it? Merely further unpleasantness. You
+will agree with me, I am sure, that at present I ought to move with
+especial care--yes, with very especial care. You cannot be fully aware
+of how I am situated. When we leave this place I shall be ready to
+receive you back into my household; but, for the time being I-- Well, I
+cannot tell you all my reasons." With that he wound up in a despairing
+voice: "O Alexis Ivanovitch, Alexis Ivanovitch!"
+
+I moved towards the door--begging him to be calm, and promising that
+everything should be done decently and in order; whereafter I departed.
+
+Russians, when abroad, are over-apt to play the poltroon, to watch all
+their words, and to wonder what people are thinking of their conduct,
+or whether such and such a thing is 'comme il faut.' In short, they are
+over-apt to cosset themselves, and to lay claim to great importance.
+Always they prefer the form of behaviour which has once and for all
+become accepted and established. This they will follow slavishly
+whether in hotels, on promenades, at meetings, or when on a journey.
+But the General had avowed to me that, over and above such
+considerations as these, there were circumstances which compelled him
+to "move with especial care at present", and that the fact had actually
+made him poor-spirited and a coward--it had made him altogether change
+his tone towards me. This fact I took into my calculations, and duly
+noted it, for, of course, he MIGHT apply to the authorities tomorrow,
+and it behoved me to go carefully.
+
+Yet it was not the General but Polina that I wanted to anger. She had
+treated me with such cruelty, and had got me into such a hole, that I
+felt a longing to force her to beseech me to stop. Of course, my
+tomfoolery might compromise her; yet certain other feelings and desires
+had begun to form themselves in my brain. If I was never to rank in her
+eyes as anything but a nonentity, it would not greatly matter if I
+figured as a draggle-tailed cockerel, and the Baron were to give me a
+good thrashing; but, the fact was that I desired to have the laugh of
+them all, and to come out myself unscathed. Let people see what they
+WOULD see. Let Polina, for once, have a good fright, and be forced to
+whistle me to heel again. But, however much she might whistle, she
+should see that I was at least no draggle-tailed cockerel!
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+I have just received a surprising piece of news. I have just met our
+chambermaid on the stairs, and been informed by her that Maria
+Philipovna departed today, by the night train, to stay with a cousin at
+Carlsbad. What can that mean? The maid declares that Madame packed her
+trunks early in the day. Yet how is it that no one else seems to have
+been aware of the circumstance? Or is it that I have been the only
+person to be unaware of it? Also, the maid has just told me that, three
+days ago, Maria Philipovna had some high words with the General. I
+understand, then! Probably the words were concerning Mlle. Blanche.
+Certainly something decisive is approaching.
+
+
+
+VII
+
+In the morning I sent for the maitre d'hotel, and explained to him
+that, in future, my bill was to be rendered to me personally. As a
+matter of fact, my expenses had never been so large as to alarm me, nor
+to lead me to quit the hotel; while, moreover, I still had 160 gulden
+left to me, and--in them--yes, in them, perhaps, riches awaited me. It
+was a curious fact, that, though I had not yet won anything at play, I
+nevertheless acted, thought, and felt as though I were sure, before
+long, to become wealthy--since I could not imagine myself otherwise.
+
+Next, I bethought me, despite the earliness of the hour, of going to
+see Mr. Astley, who was staying at the Hotel de l'Angleterre (a
+hostelry at no great distance from our own). But suddenly De Griers
+entered my room. This had never before happened, for of late that
+gentleman and I had stood on the most strained and distant of terms--he
+attempting no concealment of his contempt for me (he even made an
+express, point of showing it), and I having no reason to desire his
+company. In short, I detested him. Consequently, his entry at the
+present moment the more astounded me. At once I divined that something
+out of the way was on the carpet.
+
+He entered with marked affability, and began by complimenting me on my
+room. Then, perceiving that I had my hat in my hands, he inquired
+whither I was going so early; and, no sooner did he hear that I was
+bound for Mr. Astley's than he stopped, looked grave, and seemed
+plunged in thought.
+
+He was a true Frenchman insofar as that, though he could be lively and
+engaging when it suited him, he became insufferably dull and wearisome
+as soon as ever the need for being lively and engaging had passed.
+Seldom is a Frenchman NATURALLY civil: he is civil only as though to
+order and of set purpose. Also, if he thinks it incumbent upon him to
+be fanciful, original, and out of the way, his fancy always assumes a
+foolish, unnatural vein, for the reason that it is compounded of trite,
+hackneyed forms. In short, the natural Frenchman is a conglomeration of
+commonplace, petty, everyday positiveness, so that he is the most
+tedious person in the world.--Indeed, I believe that none but
+greenhorns and excessively Russian people feel an attraction towards
+the French; for, to any man of sensibility, such a compendium of
+outworn forms--a compendium which is built up of drawing-room manners,
+expansiveness, and gaiety--becomes at once over-noticeable and
+unbearable.
+
+"I have come to see you on business," De Griers began in a very
+off-hand, yet polite, tone; "nor will I seek to conceal from you the
+fact that I have come in the capacity of an emissary, of an
+intermediary, from the General. Having small knowledge of the Russian
+tongue, I lost most of what was said last night; but, the General has
+now explained matters, and I must confess that--"
+
+"See here, Monsieur de Griers," I interrupted. "I understand that you
+have undertaken to act in this affair as an intermediary. Of course I
+am only 'un utchitel,' a tutor, and have never claimed to be an
+intimate of this household, nor to stand on at all familiar terms with
+it. Consequently, I do not know the whole of its circumstances. Yet
+pray explain to me this: have you yourself become one of its members,
+seeing that you are beginning to take such a part in everything, and
+are now present as an intermediary?"
+
+The Frenchman seemed not over-pleased at my question. It was one which
+was too outspoken for his taste--and he had no mind to be frank with me.
+
+"I am connected with the General," he said drily, "partly through
+business affairs, and partly through special circumstances. My
+principal has sent me merely to ask you to forego your intentions of
+last evening. What you contemplate is, I have no doubt, very clever;
+yet he has charged me to represent to you that you have not the
+slightest chance of succeeding in your end, since not only will the
+Baron refuse to receive you, but also he (the Baron) has at his
+disposal every possible means for obviating further unpleasantness from
+you. Surely you can see that yourself? What, then, would be the good of
+going on with it all? On the other hand, the General promises that at
+the first favourable opportunity he will receive you back into his
+household, and, in the meantime, will credit you with your salary--with
+'vos appointements.' Surely that will suit you, will it not?"
+
+Very quietly I replied that he (the Frenchman) was labouring under a
+delusion; that perhaps, after all, I should not be expelled from the
+Baron's presence, but, on the contrary, be listened to; finally, that I
+should be glad if Monsieur de Griers would confess that he was now
+visiting me merely in order to see how far I intended to go in the
+affair.
+
+"Good heavens!" cried de Griers. "Seeing that the General takes such an
+interest in the matter, is there anything very unnatural in his
+desiring also to know your plans?"
+
+Again I began my explanations, but the Frenchman only fidgeted and
+rolled his head about as he listened with an expression of manifest and
+unconcealed irony on his face. In short, he adopted a supercilious
+attitude. For my own part, I endeavoured to pretend that I took the
+affair very seriously. I declared that, since the Baron had gone and
+complained of me to the General, as though I were a mere servant of the
+General's, he had, in the first place, lost me my post, and, in the
+second place, treated me like a person to whom, as to one not qualified
+to answer for himself, it was not even worth while to speak. Naturally,
+I said, I felt insulted at this. Yet, comprehending as I did,
+differences of years, of social status, and so forth (here I could
+scarcely help smiling), I was not anxious to bring about further scenes
+by going personally to demand or to request satisfaction of the Baron.
+All that I felt was that I had a right to go in person and beg the
+Baron's and the Baroness's pardon--the more so since, of late, I had
+been feeling unwell and unstrung, and had been in a fanciful condition.
+And so forth, and so forth. Yet (I continued) the Baron's offensive
+behaviour to me of yesterday (that is to say, the fact of his referring
+the matter to the General) as well as his insistence that the General
+should deprive me of my post, had placed me in such a position that I
+could not well express my regret to him (the Baron) and to his good
+lady, for the reason that in all probability both he and the Baroness,
+with the world at large, would imagine that I was doing so merely
+because I hoped, by my action, to recover my post. Hence, I found
+myself forced to request the Baron to express to me HIS OWN regrets, as
+well as to express them in the most unqualified manner--to say, in
+fact, that he had never had any wish to insult me. After the Baron had
+done THAT, I should, for my part, at once feel free to express to him,
+whole-heartedly and without reserve, my own regrets. "In short," I
+declared in conclusion, "my one desire is that the Baron may make it
+possible for me to adopt the latter course."
+
+"Oh fie! What refinements and subtleties!" exclaimed De Griers.
+"Besides, what have you to express regret for? Confess, Monsieur,
+Monsieur--pardon me, but I have forgotten your name--confess, I say,
+that all this is merely a plan to annoy the General? Or perhaps, you
+have some other and special end in view? Eh?"
+
+"In return you must pardon ME, mon cher Marquis, and tell me what you
+have to do with it."
+
+"The General--"
+
+"But what of the General? Last night he said that, for some reason or
+another, it behoved him to 'move with especial care at present;'
+wherefore, he was feeling nervous. But I did not understand the
+reference."
+
+"Yes, there DO exist special reasons for his doing so," assented De
+Griers in a conciliatory tone, yet with rising anger. "You are
+acquainted with Mlle. de Cominges, are you not?"
+
+"Mlle. Blanche, you mean?"
+
+"Yes, Mlle. Blanche de Cominges. Doubtless you know also that the
+General is in love with this young lady, and may even be about to marry
+her before he leaves here? Imagine, therefore, what any scene or
+scandal would entail upon him!"
+
+"I cannot see that the marriage scheme need, be affected by scenes or
+scandals."
+
+"Mais le Baron est si irascible--un caractere prussien, vous savez!
+Enfin il fera une querelle d'Allemand."
+
+"I do not care," I replied, "seeing that I no longer belong to his
+household" (of set purpose I was trying to talk as senselessly as
+possible). "But is it quite settled that Mlle. is to marry the General?
+What are they waiting for? Why should they conceal such a matter--at
+all events from ourselves, the General's own party?"
+
+"I cannot tell you. The marriage is not yet a settled affair, for they
+are awaiting news from Russia. The General has business transactions to
+arrange."
+
+"Ah! Connected, doubtless, with madame his mother?"
+
+De Griers shot at me a glance of hatred.
+
+"To cut things short," he interrupted, "I have complete confidence in
+your native politeness, as well as in your tact and good sense. I feel
+sure that you will do what I suggest, even if it is only for the sake
+of this family which has received you as a kinsman into its bosom and
+has always loved and respected you."
+
+"Be so good as to observe," I remarked, "that the same family has just
+EXPELLED me from its bosom. All that you are saying you are saying but
+for show; but, when people have just said to you, 'Of course we do not
+wish to turn you out, yet, for the sake of appearance's, you must
+PERMIT yourself to be turned out,' nothing can matter very much."
+
+"Very well, then," he said, in a sterner and more arrogant tone.
+"Seeing that my solicitations have had no effect upon you, it is my
+duty to mention that other measures will be taken. There exist here
+police, you must remember, and this very day they shall send you
+packing. Que diable! To think of a blanc bec like yourself challenging
+a person like the Baron to a duel! Do you suppose that you will be
+ALLOWED to do such things? Just try doing them, and see if any one will
+be afraid of you! The reason why I have asked you to desist is that I
+can see that your conduct is causing the General annoyance. Do you
+believe that the Baron could not tell his lacquey simply to put you out
+of doors?"
+
+"Nevertheless I should not GO out of doors," I retorted with absolute
+calm. "You are labouring under a delusion, Monsieur de Griers. The
+thing will be done in far better trim than you imagine. I was just
+about to start for Mr. Astley's, to ask him to be my intermediary--in
+other words, my second. He has a strong liking for me, and I do not
+think that he will refuse. He will go and see the Baron on MY behalf,
+and the Baron will certainly not decline to receive him. Although I am
+only a tutor--a kind of subaltern, Mr. Astley is known to all men as
+the nephew of a real English lord, the Lord Piebroch, as well as a lord
+in his own right. Yes, you may be pretty sure that the Baron will be
+civil to Mr. Astley, and listen to him. Or, should he decline to do so,
+Mr. Astley will take the refusal as a personal affront to himself (for
+you know how persistent the English are?) and thereupon introduce to
+the Baron a friend of his own (and he has many friends in a good
+position). That being so, picture to yourself the issue of the
+affair--an affair which will not quite end as you think it will."
+
+This caused the Frenchman to bethink him of playing the coward. "Really
+things may be as this fellow says," he evidently thought. "Really he
+MIGHT be able to engineer another scene."
+
+"Once more I beg of you to let the matter drop," he continued in a tone
+that was now entirely conciliatory. "One would think that it actually
+PLEASED you to have scenes! Indeed, it is a brawl rather than genuine
+satisfaction that you are seeking. I have said that the affair may
+prove to be diverting, and even clever, and that possibly you may
+attain something by it; yet none the less I tell you" (he said this
+only because he saw me rise and reach for my hat) "that I have come
+hither also to hand you these few words from a certain person. Read
+them, please, for I must take her back an answer."
+
+So saying, he took from his pocket a small, compact, wafer-sealed note,
+and handed it to me. In Polina's handwriting I read:
+
+"I hear that you are thinking of going on with this affair. You have
+lost your temper now, and are beginning to play the fool! Certain
+circumstances, however, I may explain to you later. Pray cease from
+your folly, and put a check upon yourself. For folly it all is. I have
+need of you, and, moreover, you have promised to obey me. Remember the
+Shlangenberg.  I ask you to be obedient. If necessary, I shall even BID
+you be obedient.--Your own----POLINA.
+
+"P.S.--If so be that you still bear a grudge against me for what
+happened last night, pray forgive me."
+
+
+Everything, to my eyes, seemed to change as I read these words. My lips
+grew pale, and I began to tremble. Meanwhile, the cursed Frenchman was
+eyeing me discreetly and askance, as though he wished to avoid
+witnessing my confusion. It would have been better if he had laughed
+outright.
+
+"Very well," I said, "you can tell Mlle. not to disturb herself. But,"
+I added sharply, "I would also ask you why you have been so long in
+handing me this note? Instead of chattering about trifles, you ought to
+have delivered me the missive at once--if you have really come
+commissioned as you say."
+
+"Well, pardon some natural haste on my part, for the situation is so
+strange. I wished first to gain some personal knowledge of your
+intentions; and, moreover, I did not know the contents of the note, and
+thought that it could be given you at any time."
+
+"I understand," I replied. "So you were ordered to hand me the note
+only in the last resort, and if you could not otherwise appease me? Is
+it not so? Speak out, Monsieur de Griers."
+
+"Perhaps," said he, assuming a look of great forbearance, but gazing at
+me in a meaning way.
+
+I reached for my hat; whereupon he nodded, and went out. Yet on his
+lips I fancied that I could see a mocking smile. How could it have been
+otherwise?
+
+"You and I are to have a reckoning later, Master Frenchman," I muttered
+as I descended the stairs. "Yes, we will measure our strength
+together." Yet my thoughts were all in confusion, for again something
+seemed to have struck me dizzy. Presently the air revived me a little,
+and, a couple of minutes later, my brain had sufficiently cleared to
+enable two ideas in particular to stand out in it. Firstly, I asked
+myself, which of the absurd, boyish, and extravagant threats which I
+had uttered at random last night had made everybody so alarmed?
+Secondly, what was the influence which this Frenchman appeared to
+exercise over Polina? He had but to give the word, and at once she did
+as he desired--at once she wrote me a note to beg of me to forbear! Of
+course, the relations between the pair had, from the first, been a
+riddle to me--they had been so ever since I had first made their
+acquaintance.  But of late I had remarked in her a strong aversion for,
+even a contempt for--him, while, for his part, he had scarcely even
+looked at her, but had behaved towards her always in the most churlish
+fashion. Yes, I had noted that. Also, Polina herself had mentioned to
+me her dislike for him, and delivered herself of some remarkable
+confessions on the subject. Hence, he must have got her into his power
+somehow--somehow he must be holding her as in a vice.
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+All at once, on the Promenade, as it was called--that is to say, in the
+Chestnut Avenue--I came face to face with my Englishman.
+
+"I was just coming to see you," he said; "and you appear to be out on a
+similar errand. So you have parted with your employers?"
+
+"How do you know that?" I asked in astonishment. "Is EVERY ONE aware of
+the fact?"
+
+"By no means. Not every one would consider such a fact to be of moment.
+Indeed, I have never heard any one speak of it."
+
+"Then how come you to know it?"
+
+"Because I have had occasion to do so. Whither are you bound? I like
+you, and was therefore coming to pay you a visit."
+
+"What a splendid fellow you are, Mr. Astley!" I cried, though still
+wondering how he had come by his knowledge. "And since I have not yet
+had my coffee, and you have, in all probability, scarcely tasted yours,
+let us adjourn to the Casino Cafe, where we can sit and smoke and have
+a talk."
+
+The cafe in question was only a hundred paces away; so, when coffee had
+been brought, we seated ourselves, and I lit a cigarette. Astley was no
+smoker, but, taking a seat by my side, he prepared himself to listen.
+
+"I do not intend to go away," was my first remark. "I intend, on the
+contrary, to remain here."
+
+"That I never doubted," he answered good-humouredly.
+
+It is a curious fact that, on my way to see him, I had never even
+thought of telling him of my love for Polina. In fact, I had purposely
+meant to avoid any mention of the subject. Nor, during our stay in the
+place, had I ever made aught but the scantiest reference to it. You
+see, not only was Astley a man of great reserve, but also from the
+first I had perceived that Polina had made a great impression upon him,
+although he never spoke of her. But now, strangely enough, he had no
+sooner seated himself and bent his steely gaze upon me, than, for some
+reason or another, I felt moved to tell him everything--to speak to him
+of my love in all its phases. For an hour and a half did I discourse on
+the subject, and found it a pleasure to do so, even though this was the
+first occasion on which I had referred to the matter. Indeed, when, at
+certain moments, I perceived that my more ardent passages confused him,
+I purposely increased my ardour of narration. Yet one thing I regret:
+and that is that I made references to the Frenchman which were a little
+over-personal.
+
+Mr. Astley sat without moving as he listened to me. Not a word nor a
+sound of any kind did he utter as he stared into my eyes. Suddenly,
+however, on my mentioning the Frenchman, he interrupted me, and
+inquired sternly whether I did right to speak of an extraneous matter
+(he had always been a strange man in his mode of propounding questions).
+
+"No, I fear not," I replied.
+
+"And concerning this Marquis and Mlle. Polina you know nothing beyond
+surmise?"
+
+Again I was surprised that such a categorical question should come from
+such a reserved individual.
+
+"No, I know nothing FOR CERTAIN about them" was my reply. "No--nothing."
+
+"Then you have done very wrong to speak of them to me, or even to
+imagine things about them."
+
+"Quite so, quite so," I interrupted in some astonishment. "I admit
+that. Yet that is not the question." Whereupon I related to him in
+detail the incident of two days ago. I spoke of Polina's outburst, of
+my encounter with the Baron, of my dismissal, of the General's
+extraordinary pusillanimity, and of the call which De Griers had that
+morning paid me. In conclusion, I showed Astley the note which I had
+lately received.
+
+"What do you make of it?" I asked. "When I met you I was just coming to
+ask you your opinion. For myself, I could have killed this Frenchman,
+and am not sure that I shall not do so even yet."
+
+"I feel the same about it," said Mr. Astley. "As for Mlle.
+Polina--well, you yourself know that, if necessity drives, one enters
+into relation with people whom one simply detests. Even between this
+couple there may be something which, though unknown to you, depends
+upon extraneous circumstances. For, my own part, I think that you may
+reassure yourself--or at all events partially. And as for Mlle.
+Polina's proceedings of two days ago, they were, of course, strange;
+not because she can have meant to get rid of you, or to earn for you a
+thrashing from the Baron's cudgel (which for some curious reason, he
+did not use, although he had it ready in his hands), but because such
+proceedings on the part of such--well, of such a refined lady as Mlle.
+Polina are, to say the least of it, unbecoming. But she cannot have
+guessed that you would carry out her absurd wish to the letter?"
+
+"Do you know what?" suddenly I cried as I fixed Mr. Astley with my
+gaze. "I believe that you have already heard the story from some
+one--very possibly from Mlle. Polina herself?"
+
+In return he gave me an astonished stare.
+
+"Your eyes look very fiery," he said with a return of his former calm,
+"and in them I can read suspicion. Now, you have no right whatever to
+be suspicious. It is not a right which I can for a moment recognise,
+and I absolutely refuse to answer your questions."
+
+"Enough! You need say no more," I cried with a strange emotion at my
+heart, yet not altogether understanding what had aroused that emotion
+in my breast. Indeed, when, where, and how could Polina have chosen
+Astley to be one of her confidants? Of late I had come rather to
+overlook him in this connection, even though Polina had always been a
+riddle to me--so much so that now, when I had just permitted myself to
+tell my friend of my infatuation in all its aspects, I had found myself
+struck, during the very telling, with the fact that in my relations
+with her I could specify nothing that was explicit, nothing that was
+positive. On the contrary, my relations had been purely fantastic,
+strange, and unreal; they had been unlike anything else that I could
+think of.
+
+"Very well, very well," I replied with a warmth equal to Astley's own.
+"Then I stand confounded, and have no further opinions to offer. But
+you are a good fellow, and I am glad to know what you think about it
+all, even though I do not need your advice."
+
+Then, after a pause, I resumed:
+
+"For instance, what reason should you assign for the General taking
+fright in this way? Why should my stupid clowning have led the world to
+elevate it into a serious incident? Even De Griers has found it
+necessary to put in his oar (and he only interferes on the most
+important occasions), and to visit me, and to address to me the most
+earnest supplications. Yes, HE, De Griers, has actually been playing
+the suppliant to ME! And, mark you, although he came to me as early as
+nine o'clock, he had ready-prepared in his hand Mlle. Polina's note.
+When, I would ask, was that note written? Mlle. Polina must have been
+aroused from sleep for the express purpose of writing it. At all events
+the circumstance shows that she is an absolute slave to the Frenchman,
+since she actually begs my pardon in the note--actually begs my pardon!
+Yet what is her personal concern in the matter? Why is she interested
+in it at all? Why, too, is the whole party so afraid of this precious
+Baron? And what sort of a business do you call it for the General to be
+going to marry Mlle. Blanche de Cominges? He told me last night that,
+because of the circumstance, he must 'move with especial care at
+present.' What is your opinion of it all? Your look convinces me that
+you know more about it than I do."
+
+Mr. Astley smiled and nodded.
+
+"Yes, I think I DO know more about it than you do," he assented. "The
+affair centres around this Mlle. Blanche. Of that I feel certain."
+
+"And what of Mlle. Blanche?" I cried impatiently (for in me there had
+dawned a sudden hope that this would enable me to discover something
+about Polina).
+
+"Well, my belief is that at the present moment Mlle. Blanche has, in
+very truth, a special reason for wishing to avoid any trouble with the
+Baron and the Baroness.  It might lead not only to some unpleasantness,
+but even to a scandal."
+
+"Oh, oh!"
+
+"Also I may tell you that Mlle. Blanche has been in Roulettenberg
+before, for she was staying here three seasons ago. I myself was in the
+place at the time, and in those days Mlle. Blanche was not known as
+Mlle. de Cominges, nor was her mother, the Widow de Cominges, even in
+existence. In any case no one ever mentioned the latter. De Griers,
+too, had not materialised, and I am convinced that not only do the
+parties stand in no relation to one another, but also they have not
+long enjoyed one another's acquaintance. Likewise, the Marquisate de
+Griers is of recent creation. Of that I have reason to be sure, owing
+to a certain circumstance. Even the name De Griers itself may be taken
+to be a new invention, seeing that I have a friend who once met the
+said 'Marquis' under a different name altogether."
+
+"Yet he possesses a good circle of friends?"
+
+"Possibly. Mlle. Blanche also may possess that. Yet it is not three
+years since she received from the local police, at the instance of the
+Baroness, an invitation to leave the town. And she left it."
+
+"But why?"
+
+"Well, I must tell you that she first appeared here in company with an
+Italian--a prince of some sort, a man who bore an historic name
+(Barberini or something of the kind). The fellow was simply a mass of
+rings and diamonds--real diamonds, too--and the couple used to drive
+out in a marvellous carriage. At first Mlle. Blanche played 'trente et
+quarante' with fair success, but, later, her luck took a marked change
+for the worse. I distinctly remember that in a single evening she lost
+an enormous sum. But worse was to ensue, for one fine morning her
+prince disappeared--horses, carriage, and all. Also, the hotel bill
+which he left unpaid was enormous. Upon this Mlle. Zelma (the name
+which she assumed after figuring as Madame Barberini) was in despair.
+She shrieked and howled all over the hotel, and even tore her clothes
+in her frenzy. In the hotel there was staying also a Polish count (you
+must know that ALL travelling Poles are counts!), and the spectacle of
+Mlle. Zelma tearing her clothes and, catlike, scratching her face with
+her beautiful, scented nails produced upon him a strong impression. So
+the pair had a talk together, and, by luncheon time, she was consoled.
+Indeed, that evening the couple entered the Casino arm-in-arm--Mlle.
+Zelma laughing loudly, according to her custom, and showing even more
+expansiveness in her manners than she had before shown. For instance,
+she thrust her way into the file of women roulette-players in the exact
+fashion of those ladies who, to clear a space for themselves at the
+tables, push their fellow-players roughly aside. Doubtless you have
+noticed them?"
+
+"Yes, certainly."
+
+"Well, they are not worth noticing. To the annoyance of the decent
+public they are allowed to remain here--at all events such of them as
+daily change 4000 franc notes at the tables (though, as soon as ever
+these women cease to do so, they receive an invitation to depart).
+However, Mlle. Zelma continued to change notes of this kind, but her
+play grew more and more unsuccessful, despite the fact that such
+ladies' luck is frequently good, for they have a surprising amount of
+cash at their disposal. Suddenly, the Count too disappeared, even as
+the Prince had done, and that same evening Mlle. Zelma was forced to
+appear in the Casino alone. On this occasion no one offered her a
+greeting. Two days later she had come to the end of her resources;
+whereupon, after staking and losing her last louis d'or she chanced to
+look around her, and saw standing by her side the Baron Burmergelm, who
+had been eyeing her with fixed disapproval. To his distaste, however,
+Mlle. paid no attention, but, turning to him with her well-known smile,
+requested him to stake, on her behalf, ten louis on the red. Later that
+evening a complaint from the Baroness led the authorities to request
+Mlle. not to re-enter the Casino. If you feel in any way surprised that
+I should know these petty and unedifying details, the reason is that I
+had them from a relative of mine who, later that evening, drove Mlle.
+Zelma in his carriage from Roulettenberg to Spa. Now, mark you, Mlle.
+wants to become Madame General, in order that, in future, she may be
+spared the receipt of such invitations from Casino authorities as she
+received three years ago. At present she is not playing; but that is
+only because, according to the signs, she is lending money to other
+players. Yes, that is a much more paying game. I even suspect that the
+unfortunate General is himself in her debt, as well as, perhaps, also
+De Griers. Or, it may be that the latter has entered into a partnership
+with her. Consequently you yourself will see that, until the marriage
+shall have been consummated, Mlle. would scarcely like to have the
+attention of the Baron and the Baroness drawn to herself. In short, to
+any one in her position, a scandal would be most detrimental. You form
+a member of the menage of these people; wherefore, any act of yours
+might cause such a scandal--and the more so since daily she appears in
+public arm in arm with the General or with Mlle. Polina. NOW do you
+understand?"
+
+"No, I do not!" I shouted as I banged my fist down upon the
+table--banged it with such violence that a frightened waiter came
+running towards us. "Tell me, Mr. Astley, why, if you knew this history
+all along, and, consequently, always knew who this Mlle. Blanche is,
+you never warned either myself or the General, nor, most of all, Mlle.
+Polina" (who is accustomed to appear in the Casino--in public
+everywhere with Mlle. Blanche). "How could you do it?"
+
+"It would have done no good to warn you," he replied quietly, "for the
+reason that you could have effected nothing. Against what was I to warn
+you? As likely as not, the General knows more about Mlle. Blanche even
+than I do; yet the unhappy man still walks about with her and Mlle.
+Polina. Only yesterday I saw this Frenchwoman riding, splendidly
+mounted, with De Griers, while the General was careering in their wake
+on a roan horse. He had said, that morning, that his legs were hurting
+him, yet his riding-seat was easy enough. As he passed I looked at him,
+and the thought occurred to me that he was a man lost for ever.
+However, it is no affair of mine, for I have only recently had the
+happiness to make Mlle. Polina's acquaintance. Also"--he added this as
+an afterthought--"I have already told you that I do not recognise your
+right to ask me certain questions, however sincere be my liking for
+you."
+
+"Enough," I said, rising. "To me it is as clear as day that Mlle.
+Polina knows all about this Mlle. Blanche, but cannot bring herself to
+part with her Frenchman; wherefore, she consents also to be seen in
+public with Mlle. Blanche. You may be sure that nothing else would ever
+have induced her either to walk about with this Frenchwoman or to send
+me a note not to touch the Baron. Yes, it is THERE that the influence
+lies before which everything in the world must bow! Yet she herself it
+was who launched me at the Baron! The devil take it, but I was left no
+choice in the matter."
+
+"You forget, in the first place, that this Mlle. de Cominges is the
+General's inamorata, and, in the second place, that Mlle. Polina, the
+General's step-daughter, has a younger brother and sister who, though
+they are the General's own children, are completely neglected by this
+madman, and robbed as well."
+
+"Yes, yes; that is so. For me to go and desert the children now would
+mean their total abandonment; whereas, if I remain, I should be able to
+defend their interests, and, perhaps, to save a moiety of their
+property. Yes, yes; that is quite true. And yet, and yet--Oh, I can
+well understand why they are all so interested in the General's mother!"
+
+"In whom?" asked Mr. Astley.
+
+"In the old woman of Moscow who declines to die, yet concerning whom
+they are for ever expecting telegrams to notify the fact of her death."
+
+"Ah, then of course their interests centre around her. It is a question
+of succession. Let that but be settled, and the General will marry,
+Mlle. Polina will be set free, and De Griers--"
+
+"Yes, and De Griers?"
+
+"Will be repaid his money, which is what he is now waiting for."
+
+"What? You think that he is waiting for that?"
+
+"I know of nothing else," asserted Mr. Astley doggedly.
+
+"But, I do, I do!" I shouted in my fury. "He is waiting also for the
+old woman's will, for the reason that it awards Mlle. Polina a dowry.
+As soon as ever the money is received, she will throw herself upon the
+Frenchman's neck. All women are like that. Even the proudest of them
+become abject slaves where marriage is concerned. What Polina is good
+for is to fall head over ears in love. That is MY opinion. Look at
+her--especially when she is sitting alone, and plunged in thought. All
+this was pre-ordained and foretold, and is accursed. Polina could
+perpetrate any mad act. She--she--But who called me by name?" I broke
+off. "Who is shouting for me? I heard some one calling in Russian,
+'Alexis Ivanovitch!' It was a woman's voice. Listen!"
+
+At the moment, we were approaching my hotel. We had left the cafe long
+ago, without even noticing that we had done so.
+
+"Yes, I DID hear a woman's voice calling, but whose I do not know. The
+someone was calling you in Russian. Ah! NOW I can see whence the cries
+come. They come from that lady there--the one who is sitting on the
+settee, the one who has just been escorted to the verandah by a crowd
+of lacqueys. Behind her see that pile of luggage! She must have arrived
+by train."
+
+"But why should she be calling ME? Hear her calling again! See! She is
+beckoning to us!"
+
+"Yes, so she is," assented Mr. Astley.
+
+"Alexis Ivanovitch, Alexis Ivanovitch! Good heavens, what a stupid
+fellow!" came in a despairing wail from the verandah.
+
+We had almost reached the portico, and I was just setting foot upon the
+space before it, when my hands fell to my sides in limp astonishment,
+and my feet glued themselves to the pavement!
+
+
+
+IX
+
+For on the topmost tier of the hotel verandah, after being carried up
+the steps in an armchair amid a bevy of footmen, maid-servants, and
+other menials of the hotel, headed by the landlord (that functionary
+had actually run out to meet a visitor who arrived with so much stir
+and din, attended by her own retinue, and accompanied by so great a
+pile of trunks and portmanteaux)--on the topmost tier of the verandah,
+I say, there was sitting--THE GRANDMOTHER! Yes, it was she--rich, and
+imposing, and seventy-five years of age--Antonida Vassilievna
+Tarassevitcha, landowner and grande dame of Moscow--the "La Baboulenka"
+who had caused so many telegrams to be sent off and received--who had
+been dying, yet not dying--who had, in her own person, descended upon
+us even as snow might fall from the clouds! Though unable to walk, she
+had arrived borne aloft in an armchair (her mode of conveyance for the
+last five years), as brisk, aggressive, self-satisfied, bolt-upright,
+loudly imperious, and generally abusive as ever. In fact, she looked
+exactly as she had on the only two occasions when I had seen her since
+my appointment to the General's household.  Naturally enough, I stood
+petrified with astonishment. She had sighted me a hundred paces off!
+Even while she was being carried along in her chair she had recognised
+me, and called me by name and surname (which, as usual, after hearing
+once, she had remembered ever afterwards).
+
+"And this is the woman whom they had thought to see in her grave after
+making her will!" I thought to myself. "Yet she will outlive us, and
+every one else in the hotel. Good Lord! what is going to become of us
+now? What on earth is to happen to the General? She will turn the place
+upside down!"
+
+"My good sir," the old woman continued in a stentorian voice, "what are
+you standing THERE for, with your eyes almost falling out of your head?
+Cannot you come and say how-do-you-do? Are you too proud to shake
+hands? Or do you not recognise me? Here, Potapitch!" she cried to an
+old servant who, dressed in a frock coat and white waistcoat, had a
+bald, red head (he was the chamberlain who always accompanied her on
+her journeys). "Just think! Alexis Ivanovitch does not recognise me!
+They have buried me for good and all! Yes, and after sending hosts of
+telegrams to know if I were dead or not! Yes, yes, I have heard the
+whole story. I am very much alive, though, as you may see."
+
+"Pardon me, Antonida Vassilievna," I replied good humouredly as I
+recovered my presence of mind. "I have no reason to wish you ill. I am
+merely rather astonished to see you. Why should I not be so, seeing how
+unexpected--"
+
+"WHY should you be astonished? I just got into my chair, and came.
+Things are quiet enough in the train, for there is no one there to
+chatter. Have you been out for a walk?"
+
+"Yes. I have just been to the Casino."
+
+"Oh? Well, it is quite nice here," she went on as she looked about her.
+"The place seems comfortable, and all the trees are out. I like it very
+well. Are your people at home? Is the General, for instance, indoors?"
+
+"Yes; and probably all of them."
+
+"Do they observe the convenances, and keep up appearances? Such things
+always give one tone. I have heard that they are keeping a carriage,
+even as Russian gentlefolks ought to do. When abroad, our Russian
+people always cut a dash. Is Prascovia here too?"
+
+"Yes. Polina Alexandrovna is here."
+
+"And the Frenchwoman? However, I will go and look for them myself. Tell
+me the nearest way to their rooms. Do you like being here?"
+
+"Yes, I thank you, Antonida Vassilievna."
+
+"And you, Potapitch, you go and tell that fool of a landlord to reserve
+me a suitable suite of rooms. They must be handsomely decorated, and
+not too high up. Have my luggage taken up to them. But what are you
+tumbling over yourselves for? Why are you all tearing about? What
+scullions these fellows are!--Who is that with you?" she added to
+myself.
+
+"A Mr. Astley," I replied.
+
+"And who is Mr. Astley?"
+
+"A fellow-traveller, and my very good friend, as well as an
+acquaintance of the General's."
+
+"Oh, an Englishman? Then that is why he stared at me without even
+opening his lips. However, I like Englishmen. Now, take me upstairs,
+direct to their rooms. Where are they lodging?"
+
+Madame was lifted up in her chair by the lacqueys, and I preceded her
+up the grand staircase. Our progress was exceedingly effective, for
+everyone whom we met stopped to stare at the cortege. It happened that
+the hotel had the reputation of being the best, the most expensive, and
+the most aristocratic in all the spa, and at every turn on the
+staircase or in the corridors we encountered fine ladies and
+important-looking Englishmen--more than one of whom hastened downstairs
+to inquire of the awestruck landlord who the newcomer was. To all such
+questions he returned the same answer--namely, that the old lady was an
+influential foreigner, a Russian, a Countess, and a grande dame, and
+that she had taken the suite which, during the previous week, had been
+tenanted by the Grande Duchesse de N.
+
+Meanwhile the cause of the sensation--the Grandmother--was being borne
+aloft in her armchair. Every person whom she met she scanned with an
+inquisitive eye, after first of all interrogating me about him or her
+at the top of her voice. She was stout of figure, and, though she could
+not leave her chair, one felt, the moment that one first looked at her,
+that she was also tall of stature. Her back was as straight as a board,
+and never did she lean back in her seat. Also, her large grey head,
+with its keen, rugged features, remained always erect as she glanced
+about her in an imperious, challenging sort of way, with looks and
+gestures that clearly were unstudied. Though she had reached her
+seventy-sixth year, her face was still fresh, and her teeth had not
+decayed. Lastly, she was dressed in a black silk gown and white mobcap.
+
+"She interests me tremendously," whispered Mr. Astley as, still
+smoking, he walked by my side. Meanwhile I was reflecting that probably
+the old lady knew all about the telegrams, and even about De Griers,
+though little or nothing about Mlle. Blanche. I said as much to Mr.
+Astley.
+
+But what a frail creature is man! No sooner was my first surprise
+abated than I found myself rejoicing in the shock which we were about
+to administer to the General. So much did the thought inspire me that I
+marched ahead in the gayest of fashions.
+
+Our party was lodging on the third floor. Without knocking at the door,
+or in any way announcing our presence, I threw open the portals, and
+the Grandmother was borne through them in triumph. As though of set
+purpose, the whole party chanced at that moment to be assembled in the
+General's study. The time was eleven o'clock, and it seemed that an
+outing of some sort (at which a portion of the party were to drive in
+carriages, and others to ride on horseback, accompanied by one or two
+extraneous acquaintances) was being planned. The General was present,
+and also Polina, the children, the latter's nurses, De Griers, Mlle.
+Blanche (attired in a riding-habit), her mother, the young Prince, and
+a learned German whom I beheld for the first time. Into the midst of
+this assembly the lacqueys conveyed Madame in her chair, and set her
+down within three paces of the General!
+
+Good heavens! Never shall I forget the spectacle which ensued! Just
+before our entry, the General had been holding forth to the company,
+with De Griers in support of him. I may also mention that, for the last
+two or three days, Mlle. Blanche and De Griers had been making a great
+deal of the young Prince, under the very nose of the poor General. In
+short, the company, though decorous and conventional, was in a gay,
+familiar mood. But no sooner did the Grandmother appear than the
+General stopped dead in the middle of a word, and, with jaw dropping,
+stared hard at the old lady--his eyes almost starting out of his head,
+and his expression as spellbound as though he had just seen a basilisk.
+In return, the Grandmother stared at him silently and without
+moving--though with a look of mingled challenge, triumph, and ridicule
+in her eyes. For ten seconds did the pair remain thus eyeing one
+another, amid the profound silence of the company; and even De Griers
+sat petrified--an extraordinary look of uneasiness dawning on his face.
+As for Mlle. Blanche, she too stared wildly at the Grandmother, with
+eyebrows raised and her lips parted--while the Prince and the German
+savant contemplated the tableau in profound amazement. Only Polina
+looked anything but perplexed or surprised. Presently, however, she too
+turned as white as a sheet, and then reddened to her temples. Truly the
+Grandmother's arrival seemed to be a catastrophe for everybody! For my
+own part, I stood looking from the Grandmother to the company, and back
+again, while Mr. Astley, as usual, remained in the background, and
+gazed calmly and decorously at the scene.
+
+"Well, here I am--and instead of a telegram, too!" the Grandmother at
+last ejaculated, to dissipate the silence. "What? You were not
+expecting me?"
+
+"Antonida Vassilievna! O my dearest mother! But how on earth did you,
+did you--?" The mutterings of the unhappy General died away.
+
+I verily believe that if the Grandmother had held her tongue a few
+seconds longer she would have had a stroke.
+
+"How on earth did I WHAT?" she exclaimed. "Why, I just got into the
+train and came here. What else is the railway meant for? But you
+thought that I had turned up my toes and left my property to the lot of
+you. Oh, I know ALL about the telegrams which you have been
+dispatching. They must have cost you a pretty sum, I should think, for
+telegrams are not sent from abroad for nothing. Well, I picked up my
+heels, and came here. Who is this Frenchman? Monsieur de Griers, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Oui, madame," assented De Griers. "Et, croyez, je suis si enchante!
+Votre sante--c'est un miracle vous voir ici. Une surprise charmante!"
+
+"Just so. 'Charmante!' I happen to know you as a mountebank, and
+therefore trust you no more than THIS." She indicated her little
+finger. "And who is THAT?" she went on, turning towards Mlle. Blanche.
+Evidently the Frenchwoman looked so becoming in her riding-habit, with
+her whip in her hand, that she had made an impression upon the old
+lady. "Who is that woman there?"
+
+"Mlle. de Cominges," I said. "And this is her mother, Madame de
+Cominges. They also are staying in the hotel."
+
+"Is the daughter married?" asked the old lady, without the least
+semblance of ceremony.
+
+"No," I replied as respectfully as possible, but under my breath.
+
+"Is she good company?"
+
+I failed to understand the question.
+
+"I mean, is she or is she not a bore? Can she speak Russian? When this
+De Griers was in Moscow he soon learnt to make himself understood."
+
+I explained to the old lady that Mlle. Blanche had never visited Russia.
+
+"Bonjour, then," said Madame, with sudden brusquerie.
+
+"Bonjour, madame," replied Mlle. Blanche with an elegant, ceremonious
+bow as, under cover of an unwonted modesty, she endeavoured to express,
+both in face and figure, her extreme surprise at such strange behaviour
+on the part of the Grandmother.
+
+"How the woman sticks out her eyes at me! How she mows and minces!" was
+the Grandmother's comment. Then she turned suddenly to the General, and
+continued: "I have taken up my abode here, so am going to be your
+next-door neighbour. Are you glad to hear that, or are you not?"
+
+"My dear mother, believe me when I say that I am sincerely delighted,"
+returned the General, who had now, to a certain extent, recovered his
+senses; and inasmuch as, when occasion arose, he could speak with
+fluency, gravity, and a certain effect, he set himself to be expansive
+in his remarks, and went on: "We have been so dismayed and upset by the
+news of your indisposition! We had received such hopeless telegrams
+about you! Then suddenly--"
+
+"Fibs, fibs!" interrupted the Grandmother.
+
+"How on earth, too, did you come to decide upon the journey?" continued
+the General, with raised voice as he hurried to overlook the old lady's
+last remark. "Surely, at your age, and in your present state of health,
+the thing is so unexpected that our surprise is at least intelligible.
+However, I am glad to see you (as indeed, are we all"--he said this
+with a dignified, yet conciliatory, smile), "and will use my best
+endeavours to render your stay here as pleasant as possible."
+
+"Enough! All this is empty chatter. You are talking the usual nonsense.
+I shall know quite well how to spend my time. How did I come to
+undertake the journey, you ask? Well, is there anything so very
+surprising about it? It was done quite simply. What is every one going
+into ecstasies about?--How do you do, Prascovia? What are YOU doing
+here?"
+
+"And how are YOU, Grandmother?" replied Polina, as she approached the
+old lady. "Were you long on the journey?"
+
+"The most sensible question that I have yet been asked! Well, you shall
+hear for yourself how it all happened. I lay and lay, and was doctored
+and doctored, until at last I drove the physicians from me, and called
+in an apothecary from Nicolai who had cured an old woman of a malady
+similar to my own--cured her merely with a little hayseed. Well, he did
+me a great deal of good, for on the third day I broke into a sweat, and
+was able to leave my bed. Then my German doctors held another
+consultation, put on their spectacles, and told me that if I would go
+abroad, and take a course of the waters, the indisposition would
+finally pass away. 'Why should it not?' I thought to myself. So I had
+got things ready, and on the following day, a Friday, set out for here.
+I occupied a special compartment in the train, and where ever I had to
+change I found at the station bearers who were ready to carry me for a
+few coppers. You have nice quarters here," she went on as she glanced
+around the room. "But where on earth did you get the money for them, my
+good sir? I thought that everything of yours had been mortgaged? This
+Frenchman alone must be your creditor for a good deal. Oh, I know all
+about it, all about it."
+
+"I-I am surprised at you, my dearest mother," said the General in some
+confusion. "I-I am greatly surprised. But I do not need any extraneous
+control of my finances. Moreover, my expenses do not exceed my income,
+and we--"
+
+"They do not exceed it? Fie! Why, you are robbing your children of
+their last kopeck--you, their guardian!"
+
+"After this," said the General, completely taken aback, "--after what
+you have just said, I do not know whether--"
+
+"You do not know what? By heavens, are you never going to drop that
+roulette of yours? Are you going to whistle all your property away?"
+
+This made such an impression upon the General that he almost choked
+with fury.
+
+"Roulette, indeed? I play roulette? Really, in view of my
+position--Recollect what you are saying, my dearest mother. You must
+still be unwell."
+
+"Rubbish, rubbish!" she retorted. "The truth is that you CANNOT be got
+away from that roulette. You are simply telling lies. This very day I
+mean to go and see for myself what roulette is like. Prascovia, tell me
+what there is to be seen here; and do you, Alexis Ivanovitch, show me
+everything; and do you, Potapitch, make me a list of excursions. What
+IS there to be seen?" again she inquired of Polina.
+
+"There is a ruined castle, and the Shlangenberg."
+
+"The Shlangenberg? What is it? A forest?"
+
+"No, a mountain on the summit of which there is a place fenced off.
+From it you can get a most beautiful view."
+
+"Could a chair be carried up that mountain of yours?"
+
+"Doubtless we could find bearers for the purpose," I interposed.
+
+At this moment Theodosia, the nursemaid, approached the old lady with
+the General's children.
+
+"No, I DON'T want to see them," said the Grandmother. "I hate kissing
+children, for their noses are always wet. How are you getting on,
+Theodosia?"
+
+"I am very well, thank you, Madame," replied the nursemaid. "And how is
+your ladyship? We have been feeling so anxious about you!"
+
+"Yes, I know, you simple soul--But who are those other guests?" the old
+lady continued, turning again to Polina. "For instance, who is that old
+rascal in the spectacles?"
+
+"Prince Nilski, Grandmamma," whispered Polina.
+
+"Oh, a Russian? Why, I had no idea that he could understand me! Surely
+he did not hear what I said? As for Mr. Astley, I have seen him
+already, and I see that he is here again. How do you do?" she added to
+the gentleman in question.
+
+Mr. Astley bowed in silence.
+
+"Have you NOTHING to say to me?" the old lady went on. "Say something,
+for goodness' sake! Translate to him, Polina."
+
+Polina did so.
+
+"I have only to say," replied Mr. Astley gravely, but also with
+alacrity, "that I am indeed glad to see you in such good health." This
+was interpreted to the Grandmother, and she seemed much gratified.
+
+"How well English people know how to answer one!" she remarked. "That
+is why I like them so much better than French. Come here," she added to
+Mr. Astley. "I will try not to bore you too much. Polina, translate to
+him that I am staying in rooms on a lower floor. Yes, on a lower
+floor," she repeated to Astley, pointing downwards with her finger.
+
+Astley looked pleased at receiving the invitation.
+
+Next, the old lady scanned Polina, from head to foot with minute
+attention.
+
+"I could almost have liked you, Prascovia," suddenly she remarked, "for
+you are a nice girl--the best of the lot. You have some character about
+you. I too have character. Turn round. Surely that is not false hair
+that you are wearing?"
+
+"No, Grandmamma. It is my own."
+
+"Well, well. I do not like the stupid fashions of today. You are very
+good looking. I should have fallen in love with you if I had been a
+man. Why do you not get married? It is time now that I was going. I
+want to walk, yet I always have to ride. Are you still in a bad
+temper?" she added to the General.
+
+"No, indeed," rejoined the now mollified General.
+
+"I quite understand that at your time of life--"
+
+"Cette vieille est tombee en enfance," De Griers whispered to me.
+
+"But I want to look round a little," the old lady added to the General.
+Will you lend me Alexis Ivanovitch for the purpose?
+
+"As much as you like. But I myself--yes, and Polina and Monsieur de
+Griers too--we all of us hope to have the pleasure of escorting you."
+
+"Mais, madame, cela sera un plaisir," De Griers commented with a
+bewitching smile.
+
+"'Plaisir' indeed! Why, I look upon you as a perfect fool, monsieur."
+Then she remarked to the General: "I am not going to let you have any
+of my money. I must be off to my rooms now, to see what they are like.
+Afterwards we will look round a little. Lift me up."
+
+Again the Grandmother was borne aloft and carried down the staircase
+amid a perfect bevy of followers--the General walking as though he had
+been hit over the head with a cudgel, and De Griers seeming to be
+plunged in thought. Endeavouring to be left behind, Mlle. Blanche next
+thought better of it, and followed the rest, with the Prince in her
+wake. Only the German savant and Madame de Cominges did not leave the
+General's apartments.
+
+
+
+X
+
+At spas--and, probably, all over Europe--hotel landlords and managers
+are guided in their allotment of rooms to visitors, not so much by the
+wishes and requirements of those visitors, as by their personal
+estimate of the same. It may also be said that these landlords and
+managers seldom make a mistake. To the Grandmother, however, our
+landlord, for some reason or another, allotted such a sumptuous suite
+that he fairly overreached himself; for he assigned her a suite
+consisting of four magnificently appointed rooms, with bathroom,
+servants' quarters, a separate room for her maid, and so on. In fact,
+during the previous week the suite had been occupied by no less a
+personage than a Grand Duchess: which circumstance was duly explained
+to the new occupant, as an excuse for raising the price of these
+apartments. The Grandmother had herself carried--or, rather,
+wheeled--through each room in turn, in order that she might subject the
+whole to a close and attentive scrutiny; while the landlord--an
+elderly, bald-headed man--walked respectfully by her side.
+
+What every one took the Grandmother to be I do not know, but it
+appeared, at least, that she was accounted a person not only of great
+importance, but also, and still more, of great wealth; and without
+delay they entered her in the hotel register as "Madame la Generale,
+Princesse de Tarassevitcheva," although she had never been a princess
+in her life. Her retinue, her reserved compartment in the train, her
+pile of unnecessary trunks, portmanteaux, and strong-boxes, all helped
+to increase her prestige; while her wheeled chair, her sharp tone and
+voice, her eccentric questions (put with an air of the most overbearing
+and unbridled imperiousness), her whole figure--upright, rugged, and
+commanding as it was--completed the general awe in which she was held.
+As she inspected her new abode she ordered her chair to be stopped at
+intervals in order that, with finger extended towards some article of
+furniture, she might ply the respectfully smiling, yet secretly
+apprehensive, landlord with unexpected questions. She addressed them to
+him in French, although her pronunciation of the language was so bad
+that sometimes I had to translate them. For the most part, the
+landlord's answers were unsatisfactory, and failed to please her; nor
+were the questions themselves of a practical nature, but related,
+generally, to God knows what.
+
+For instance, on one occasion she halted before a picture which, a poor
+copy of a well-known original, had a mythological subject.
+
+"Of whom is this a portrait?" she inquired.
+
+The landlord explained that it was probably that of a countess.
+
+"But how know you that?" the old lady retorted.
+
+"You live here, yet you cannot say for certain! And why is the picture
+there at all? And why do its eyes look so crooked?"
+
+To all these questions the landlord could return no satisfactory reply,
+despite his floundering endeavours.
+
+"The blockhead!" exclaimed the Grandmother in Russian.
+
+Then she proceeded on her way--only to repeat the same story in front
+of a Saxon statuette which she had sighted from afar, and had
+commanded, for some reason or another, to be brought to her. Finally,
+she inquired of the landlord what was the value of the carpet in her
+bedroom, as well as where the said carpet had been manufactured; but,
+the landlord could do no more than promise to make inquiries.
+
+"What donkeys these people are!" she commented. Next, she turned her
+attention to the bed.
+
+"What a huge counterpane!" she exclaimed. "Turn it back, please." The
+lacqueys did so.
+
+"Further yet, further yet," the old lady cried. "Turn it RIGHT back.
+Also, take off those pillows and bolsters, and lift up the feather bed."
+
+The bed was opened for her inspection.
+
+"Mercifully it contains no bugs," she remarked.
+
+"Pull off the whole thing, and then put on my own pillows and sheets.
+The place is too luxurious for an old woman like myself. It is too
+large for any one person. Alexis Ivanovitch, come and see me whenever
+you are not teaching your pupils."
+
+"After tomorrow I shall no longer be in the General's service," I
+replied, "but merely living in the hotel on my own account."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Because, the other day, there arrived from Berlin a German and his
+wife--persons of some importance; and, it chanced that, when taking a
+walk, I spoke to them in German without having properly compassed the
+Berlin accent."
+
+"Indeed?"
+
+"Yes: and this action on my part the Baron held to be an insult, and
+complained about it to the General, who yesterday dismissed me from his
+employ."
+
+"But I suppose you must have threatened that precious Baron, or
+something of the kind? However, even if you did so, it was a matter of
+no moment."
+
+"No, I did not. The Baron was the aggressor by raising his stick at me."
+
+Upon that the Grandmother turned sharply to the General.
+
+"What? You permitted yourself to treat your tutor thus, you nincompoop,
+and to dismiss him from his post? You are a blockhead--an utter
+blockhead! I can see that clearly."
+
+"Do not alarm yourself, my dear mother," the General replied with a
+lofty air--an air in which there was also a tinge of familiarity. "I am
+quite capable of managing my own affairs. Moreover, Alexis Ivanovitch
+has not given you a true account of the matter."
+
+"What did you do next?" The old lady inquired of me.
+
+"I wanted to challenge the Baron to a duel," I replied as modestly as
+possible; "but the General protested against my doing so."
+
+"And WHY did you so protest?" she inquired of the General. Then she
+turned to the landlord, and questioned him as to whether HE would not
+have fought a duel, if challenged. "For," she added, "I can see no
+difference between you and the Baron; nor can I bear that German visage
+of yours." Upon this the landlord bowed and departed, though he could
+not have understood the Grandmother's compliment.
+
+"Pardon me, Madame," the General continued with a sneer, "but are duels
+really feasible?"
+
+"Why not? All men are crowing cocks, and that is why they quarrel. YOU,
+though, I perceive, are a blockhead--a man who does not even know how
+to carry his breeding. Lift me up. Potapitch, see to it that you always
+have TWO bearers ready. Go and arrange for their hire. But we shall not
+require more than two, for I shall need only to be carried upstairs. On
+the level or in the street I can be WHEELED along. Go and tell them
+that, and pay them in advance, so that they may show me some respect.
+You too, Potapitch, are always to come with me, and YOU, Alexis
+Ivanovitch, are to point out to me this Baron as we go along, in order
+that I may get a squint at the precious 'Von.' And where is that
+roulette played?"
+
+I explained to her that the game was carried on in the salons of the
+Casino; whereupon there ensued a string of questions as to whether
+there were many such salons, whether many people played in them,
+whether those people played a whole day at a time, and whether the game
+was managed according to fixed rules. At length, I thought it best to
+say that the most advisable course would be for her to go and see it
+for herself, since a mere description of it would be a difficult matter.
+
+"Then take me straight there," she said, "and do you walk on in front
+of me, Alexis Ivanovitch."
+
+"What, mother? Before you have so much as rested from your journey?"
+the General inquired with some solicitude. Also, for some reason which
+I could not divine, he seemed to be growing nervous; and, indeed, the
+whole party was evincing signs of confusion, and exchanging glances
+with one another. Probably they were thinking that it would be a
+ticklish--even an embarrassing--business to accompany the Grandmother
+to the Casino, where, very likely, she would perpetrate further
+eccentricities, and in public too! Yet on their own initiative they had
+offered to escort her!
+
+"Why should I rest?" she retorted. "I am not tired, for I have been
+sitting still these past five days. Let us see what your medicinal
+springs and waters are like, and where they are situated. What, too,
+about that, that--what did you call it, Prascovia?--oh, about that
+mountain top?"
+
+"Yes, we are going to see it, Grandmamma."
+
+"Very well. Is there anything else for me to see here?"
+
+"Yes! Quite a number of things," Polina forced herself to say.
+
+"Martha, YOU must come with me as well," went on the old lady to her
+maid.
+
+"No, no, mother!" ejaculated the General. "Really she cannot come. They
+would not admit even Potapitch to the Casino."
+
+"Rubbish! Because she is my servant, is that a reason for turning her
+out? Why, she is only a human being like the rest of us; and as she has
+been travelling for a week she might like to look about her. With whom
+else could she go out but myself? She would never dare to show her nose
+in the street alone."
+
+"But, mother--"
+
+"Are you ashamed to be seen with me? Stop at home, then, and you will
+be asked no questions. A pretty General YOU are, to be sure! I am a
+general's widow myself. But, after all, why should I drag the whole
+party with me? I will go and see the sights with only Alexis Ivanovitch
+as my escort."
+
+De Griers strongly insisted that EVERY ONE ought to accompany her.
+Indeed, he launched out into a perfect shower of charming phrases
+concerning the pleasure of acting as her cicerone, and so forth. Every
+one was touched with his words.
+
+"Mais elle est tombee en enfance," he added aside to the General.
+"Seule, elle fera des betises." More than this I could not overhear,
+but he seemed to have got some plan in his mind, or even to be feeling
+a slight return of his hopes.
+
+The distance to the Casino was about half a verst, and our route led us
+through the Chestnut Avenue until we reached the square directly
+fronting the building. The General, I could see, was a trifle reassured
+by the fact that, though our progress was distinctly eccentric in its
+nature, it was, at least, correct and orderly. As a matter of fact, the
+spectacle of a person who is unable to walk is not anything to excite
+surprise at a spa. Yet it was clear that the General had a great fear
+of the Casino itself: for why should a person who had lost the use of
+her limbs--more especially an old woman--be going to rooms which were
+set apart only for roulette? On either side of the wheeled chair walked
+Polina and Mlle. Blanche--the latter smiling, modestly jesting, and, in
+short, making herself so agreeable to the Grandmother that in the end
+the old lady relented towards her. On the other side of the chair
+Polina had to answer an endless flow of petty questions--such as "Who
+was it passed just now?" "Who is that coming along?" "Is the town a
+large one?" "Are the public gardens extensive?" "What sort of trees are
+those?" "What is the name of those hills?" "Do I see eagles flying
+yonder?" "What is that absurd-looking building?" and so forth.
+Meanwhile Astley whispered to me, as he walked by my side, that he
+looked for much to happen that morning. Behind the old lady's chair
+marched Potapitch and Martha--Potapitch in his frockcoat and white
+waistcoat, with a cloak over all, and the forty-year-old and rosy, but
+slightly grey-headed, Martha in a mobcap, cotton dress, and squeaking
+shoes. Frequently the old lady would twist herself round to converse
+with these servants. As for De Griers, he spoke as though he had made
+up his mind to do something (though it is also possible that he spoke
+in this manner merely in order to hearten the General, with whom he
+appeared to have held a conference). But, alas, the Grandmother had
+uttered the fatal words, "I am not going to give you any of my money;"
+and though De Griers might regard these words lightly, the General knew
+his mother better. Also, I noticed that De Griers and Mlle. Blanche
+were still exchanging looks; while of the Prince and the German savant
+I lost sight at the end of the Avenue, where they had turned back and
+left us.
+
+Into the Casino we marched in triumph. At once, both in the person of
+the commissionaire and in the persons of the footmen, there sprang to
+life the same reverence as had arisen in the lacqueys of the hotel. Yet
+it was not without some curiosity that they eyed us.
+
+Without loss of time, the Grandmother gave orders that she should be
+wheeled through every room in the establishment; of which apartments
+she praised a few, while to others she remained indifferent. Concerning
+everything, however, she asked questions. Finally we reached the
+gaming-salons, where a lacquey who was, acting as guard over the doors,
+flung them open as though he were a man possessed.
+
+The Grandmother's entry into the roulette-salon produced a profound
+impression upon the public. Around the tables, and at the further end
+of the room where the trente-et-quarante table was set out, there may
+have been gathered from 150 to 200 gamblers, ranged in several rows.
+Those who had succeeded in pushing their way to the tables were
+standing with their feet firmly planted, in order to avoid having to
+give up their places until they should have finished their game (since
+merely to stand looking on--thus occupying a gambler's place for
+nothing--was not permitted). True, chairs were provided around the
+tables, but few players made use of them--more especially if there was
+a large attendance of the general public; since to stand allowed of a
+closer approach; and, therefore, of greater facilities for calculation
+and staking. Behind the foremost row were herded a second and a third
+row of people awaiting their turn; but sometimes their impatience led
+these people to stretch a hand through the first row, in order to
+deposit their stakes. Even third-row individuals would dart forward to
+stake; whence seldom did more than five or ten minutes pass without a
+scene over disputed money arising at one or another end of the table.
+On the other hand, the police of the Casino were an able body of men;
+and though to escape the crush was an impossibility, however much one
+might wish it, the eight croupiers apportioned to each table kept an
+eye upon the stakes, performed the necessary reckoning, and decided
+disputes as they arose.
+
+In the last resort they always called in the Casino police, and the
+disputes would immediately come to an end. Policemen were stationed
+about the Casino in ordinary costume, and mingled with the spectators
+so as to make it impossible to recognise them. In particular they kept
+a lookout for pickpockets and swindlers, who simply swanned in the
+roulette salons, and reaped a rich harvest. Indeed, in every direction
+money was being filched from pockets or purses--though, of course, if
+the attempt miscarried, a great uproar ensued. One had only to approach
+a roulette table, begin to play, and then openly grab some one else's
+winnings, for a din to be raised, and the thief to start vociferating
+that the stake was HIS; and, if the coup had been carried out with
+sufficient skill, and the witnesses wavered at all in their testimony,
+the thief would as likely as not succeed in getting away with the
+money, provided that the sum was not a large one--not large enough to
+have attracted the attention of the croupiers or some fellow-player.
+Moreover, if it were a stake of insignificant size, its true owner
+would sometimes decline to continue the dispute, rather than become
+involved in a scandal. Conversely, if the thief was detected, he was
+ignominiously expelled the building.
+
+Upon all this the Grandmother gazed with open-eyed curiosity; and, on
+some thieves happening to be turned out of the place, she was
+delighted. Trente-et-quarante interested her but little; she preferred
+roulette, with its ever-revolving wheel. At length she expressed a wish
+to view the game closer; whereupon in some mysterious manner, the
+lacqueys and other officious agents (especially one or two ruined Poles
+of the kind who keep offering their services to successful gamblers and
+foreigners in general) at once found and cleared a space for the old
+lady among the crush, at the very centre of one of the tables, and next
+to the chief croupier; after which they wheeled her chair thither. Upon
+this a number of visitors who were not playing, but only looking on
+(particularly some Englishmen with their families), pressed closer
+forward towards the table, in order to watch the old lady from among
+the ranks of the gamblers. Many a lorgnette I saw turned in her
+direction, and the croupiers' hopes rose high that such an eccentric
+player was about to provide them with something out of the common. An
+old lady of seventy-five years who, though unable to walk, desired to
+play was not an everyday phenomenon. I too pressed forward towards the
+table, and ranged myself by the Grandmother's side; while Martha and
+Potapitch remained somewhere in the background among the crowd, and the
+General, Polina, and De Griers, with Mlle. Blanche, also remained
+hidden among the spectators.
+
+At first the old lady did no more than watch the gamblers, and ply me,
+in a half-whisper, with sharp-broken questions as to who was so-and-so.
+Especially did her favour light upon a very young man who was plunging
+heavily, and had won (so it was whispered) as much as 40,000 francs,
+which were lying before him on the table in a heap of gold and
+bank-notes. His eyes kept flashing, and his hands shaking; yet all the
+while he staked without any sort of calculation--just what came to his
+hand, as he kept winning and winning, and raking and raking in his
+gains. Around him lacqueys fussed--placing chairs just behind where he
+was standing--and clearing the spectators from his vicinity, so that he
+should have more room, and not be crowded--the whole done, of course,
+in expectation of a generous largesse. From time to time other gamblers
+would hand him part of their winnings--being glad to let him stake for
+them as much as his hand could grasp; while beside him stood a Pole in
+a state of violent, but respectful, agitation, who, also in expectation
+of a generous largesse, kept whispering to him at intervals (probably
+telling him what to stake, and advising and directing his play). Yet
+never once did the player throw him a glance as he staked and staked,
+and raked in his winnings. Evidently, the player in question was dead
+to all besides.
+
+For a few minutes the Grandmother watched him.
+
+"Go and tell him," suddenly she exclaimed with a nudge at my elbow,
+"--go and tell him to stop, and to take his money with him, and go
+home. Presently he will be losing--yes, losing everything that he has
+now won." She seemed almost breathless with excitement.
+
+"Where is Potapitch?" she continued. "Send Potapitch to speak to him.
+No, YOU must tell him, you must tell him,"--here she nudged me
+again--"for I have not the least notion where Potapitch is. Sortez,
+sortez," she shouted to the young man, until I leant over in her
+direction and whispered in her ear that no shouting was allowed, nor
+even loud speaking, since to do so disturbed the calculations of the
+players, and might lead to our being ejected.
+
+"How provoking!" she retorted. "Then the young man is done for! I
+suppose he WISHES to be ruined. Yet I could not bear to see him have to
+return it all. What a fool the fellow is!" and the old lady turned
+sharply away.
+
+On the left, among the players at the other half of the table, a young
+lady was playing, with, beside her, a dwarf. Who the dwarf may have
+been--whether a relative or a person whom she took with her to act as a
+foil--I do not know; but I had noticed her there on previous occasions,
+since, everyday, she entered the Casino at one o'clock precisely, and
+departed at two--thus playing for exactly one hour. Being well-known to
+the attendants, she always had a seat provided for her; and, taking
+some gold and a few thousand-franc notes out of her pocket--would begin
+quietly, coldly, and after much calculation, to stake, and mark down
+the figures in pencil on a paper, as though striving to work out a
+system according to which, at given moments, the odds might group
+themselves. Always she staked large coins, and either lost or won one,
+two, or three thousand francs a day, but not more; after which she
+would depart. The Grandmother took a long look at her.
+
+"THAT woman is not losing," she said. "To whom does she belong? Do you
+know her? Who is she?"
+
+"She is, I believe, a Frenchwoman," I replied.
+
+"Ah! A bird of passage, evidently. Besides, I can see that she has her
+shoes polished. Now, explain to me the meaning of each round in the
+game, and the way in which one ought to stake."
+
+Upon this I set myself to explain the meaning of all the
+combinations--of "rouge et noir," of "pair et impair," of "manque et
+passe," with, lastly, the different values in the system of numbers.
+The Grandmother listened attentively, took notes, put questions in
+various forms, and laid the whole thing to heart. Indeed, since an
+example of each system of stakes kept constantly occurring, a great
+deal of information could be assimilated with ease and celerity. The
+Grandmother was vastly pleased.
+
+"But what is zero?" she inquired. "Just now I heard the flaxen-haired
+croupier call out 'zero!' And why does he keep raking in all the money
+that is on the table? To think that he should grab the whole pile for
+himself! What does zero mean?"
+
+"Zero is what the bank takes for itself. If the wheel stops at that
+figure, everything lying on the table becomes the absolute property of
+the bank. Also, whenever the wheel has begun to turn, the bank ceases
+to pay out anything."
+
+"Then I should receive nothing if I were staking?"
+
+"No; unless by any chance you had PURPOSELY staked on zero; in which
+case you would receive thirty-five times the value of your stake."
+
+"Why thirty-five times, when zero so often turns up? And if so, why do
+not more of these fools stake upon it?"
+
+"Because the number of chances against its occurrence is thirty-six."
+
+"Rubbish! Potapitch, Potapitch! Come here, and I will give you some
+money." The old lady took out of her pocket a tightly-clasped purse,
+and extracted from its depths a ten-gulden piece. "Go at once, and
+stake that upon zero."
+
+"But, Madame, zero has only this moment turned up," I remonstrated;
+"wherefore, it may not do so again for ever so long. Wait a little, and
+you may then have a better chance."
+
+"Rubbish! Stake, please."
+
+"Pardon me, but zero might not turn up again until, say, tonight, even
+though you had staked thousands upon it. It often happens so."
+
+"Rubbish, rubbish! Who fears the wolf should never enter the forest.
+What? We have lost? Then stake again."
+
+A second ten-gulden piece did we lose, and then I put down a third. The
+Grandmother could scarcely remain seated in her chair, so intent was
+she upon the little ball as it leapt through the notches of the
+ever-revolving wheel. However, the third ten-gulden piece followed the
+first two. Upon this the Grandmother went perfectly crazy. She could no
+longer sit still, and actually struck the table with her fist when the
+croupier cried out, "Trente-six," instead of the desiderated zero.
+
+"To listen to him!" fumed the old lady. "When will that accursed zero
+ever turn up? I cannot breathe until I see it. I believe that that
+infernal croupier is PURPOSELY keeping it from turning up. Alexis
+Ivanovitch, stake TWO golden pieces this time. The moment we cease to
+stake, that cursed zero will come turning up, and we shall get nothing."
+
+"My good Madame--"
+
+"Stake, stake! It is not YOUR money."
+
+Accordingly I staked two ten-gulden pieces. The ball went hopping round
+the wheel until it began to settle through the notches. Meanwhile the
+Grandmother sat as though petrified, with my hand convulsively clutched
+in hers.
+
+"Zero!" called the croupier.
+
+"There! You see, you see!" cried the old lady, as she turned and faced
+me, wreathed in smiles. "I told you so! It was the Lord God himself who
+suggested to me to stake those two coins. Now, how much ought I to
+receive? Why do they not pay it out to me? Potapitch! Martha! Where are
+they? What has become of our party? Potapitch, Potapitch!"
+
+"Presently, Madame," I whispered. "Potapitch is outside, and they would
+decline to admit him to these rooms. See! You are being paid out your
+money. Pray take it." The croupiers were making up a heavy packet of
+coins, sealed in blue paper, and containing fifty ten gulden pieces,
+together with an unsealed packet containing another twenty. I handed
+the whole to the old lady in a money-shovel.
+
+"Faites le jeu, messieurs! Faites le jeu, messieurs! Rien ne va plus,"
+proclaimed the croupier as once more he invited the company to stake,
+and prepared to turn the wheel.
+
+"We shall be too late! He is going to spin again! Stake, stake!" The
+Grandmother was in a perfect fever. "Do not hang back! Be quick!" She
+seemed almost beside herself, and nudged me as hard as she could.
+
+"Upon what shall I stake, Madame?"
+
+"Upon zero, upon zero! Again upon zero! Stake as much as ever you can.
+How much have we got? Seventy ten-gulden pieces? We shall not miss
+them, so stake twenty pieces at a time."
+
+"Think a moment, Madame. Sometimes zero does not turn up for two
+hundred rounds in succession. I assure you that you may lose all your
+capital."
+
+"You are wrong--utterly wrong. Stake, I tell you! What a chattering
+tongue you have! I know perfectly well what I am doing." The old lady
+was shaking with excitement.
+
+"But the rules do not allow of more than 120 gulden being staked upon
+zero at a time."
+
+"How 'do not allow'? Surely you are wrong? Monsieur, monsieur--" here
+she nudged the croupier who was sitting on her left, and preparing to
+spin--"combien zero? Douze? Douze?"
+
+I hastened to translate.
+
+"Oui, Madame," was the croupier's polite reply. "No single stake must
+exceed four thousand florins. That is the regulation."
+
+"Then there is nothing else for it. We must risk in gulden."
+
+"Le jeu est fait!" the croupier called. The wheel revolved, and stopped
+at thirty. We had lost!
+
+"Again, again, again! Stake again!" shouted the old lady. Without
+attempting to oppose her further, but merely shrugging my shoulders, I
+placed twelve more ten-gulden pieces upon the table. The wheel whirled
+around and around, with the Grandmother simply quaking as she watched
+its revolutions.
+
+"Does she again think that zero is going to be the winning coup?"
+thought I, as I stared at her in astonishment. Yet an absolute
+assurance of winning was shining on her face; she looked perfectly
+convinced that zero was about to be called again. At length the ball
+dropped off into one of the notches.
+
+"Zero!" cried the croupier.
+
+"Ah!!!" screamed the old lady as she turned to me in a whirl of triumph.
+
+I myself was at heart a gambler. At that moment I became acutely
+conscious both of that fact and of the fact that my hands and knees
+were shaking, and that the blood was beating in my brain. Of course
+this was a rare occasion--an occasion on which zero had turned up no
+less than three times within a dozen rounds; yet in such an event there
+was nothing so very surprising, seeing that, only three days ago, I
+myself had been a witness to zero turning up THREE TIMES IN SUCCESSION,
+so that one of the players who was recording the coups on paper was
+moved to remark that for several days past zero had never turned up at
+all!
+
+With the Grandmother, as with any one who has won a very large sum, the
+management settled up with great attention and respect, since she was
+fortunate to have to receive no less than 4200 gulden. Of these gulden
+the odd 200 were paid her in gold, and the remainder in bank notes.
+
+This time the old lady did not call for Potapitch; for that she was too
+preoccupied. Though not outwardly shaken by the event (indeed, she
+seemed perfectly calm), she was trembling inwardly from head to foot.
+At length, completely absorbed in the game, she burst out:
+
+"Alexis Ivanovitch, did not the croupier just say that 4000 florins
+were the most that could be staked at any one time? Well, take these
+4000, and stake them upon the red."
+
+To oppose her was useless. Once more the wheel revolved.
+
+"Rouge!" proclaimed the croupier.
+
+Again 4000 florins--in all 8000!
+
+"Give me them," commanded the Grandmother, "and stake the other 4000
+upon the red again."
+
+I did so.
+
+"Rouge!" proclaimed the croupier.
+
+"Twelve thousand!" cried the old lady. "Hand me the whole lot. Put the
+gold into this purse here, and count the bank notes. Enough! Let us go
+home. Wheel my chair away."
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE chair, with the old lady beaming in it, was wheeled away towards
+the doors at the further end of the salon, while our party hastened to
+crowd around her, and to offer her their congratulations. In fact,
+eccentric as was her conduct, it was also overshadowed by her triumph;
+with the result that the General no longer feared to be publicly
+compromised by being seen with such a strange woman, but, smiling in a
+condescending, cheerfully familiar way, as though he were soothing a
+child, he offered his greetings to the old lady. At the same time, both
+he and the rest of the spectators were visibly impressed. Everywhere
+people kept pointing to the Grandmother, and talking about her. Many
+people even walked beside her chair, in order to view her the better
+while, at a little distance, Astley was carrying on a conversation on
+the subject with two English acquaintances of his. De Griers was simply
+overflowing with smiles and compliments, and a number of fine ladies
+were staring at the Grandmother as though she had been something
+curious.
+
+"Quelle victoire!" exclaimed De Griers.
+
+"Mais, Madame, c'etait du feu!" added Mlle. Blanche with an elusive
+smile.
+
+"Yes, I have won twelve thousand florins," replied the old lady. "And
+then there is all this gold. With it the total ought to come to nearly
+thirteen thousand. How much is that in Russian money? Six thousand
+roubles, I think?"
+
+However, I calculated that the sum would exceed seven thousand
+roubles--or, at the present rate of exchange, even eight thousand.
+
+"Eight thousand roubles! What a splendid thing! And to think of you
+simpletons sitting there and doing nothing! Potapitch! Martha! See what
+I have won!"
+
+"How DID you do it, Madame?" Martha exclaimed ecstatically. "Eight
+thousand roubles!"
+
+"And I am going to give you fifty gulden apiece. There they are."
+
+Potapitch and Martha rushed towards her to kiss her hand.
+
+"And to each bearer also I will give a ten-gulden piece. Let them have
+it out of the gold, Alexis Ivanovitch. But why is this footman bowing
+to me, and that other man as well? Are they congratulating me? Well,
+let them have ten gulden apiece."
+
+"Madame la princesse--Un pauvre expatrie--Malheur continuel--Les
+princes russes sont si genereux!" said a man who for some time past had
+been hanging around the old lady's chair--a personage who, dressed in a
+shabby frockcoat and coloured waistcoat, kept taking off his cap, and
+smiling pathetically.
+
+"Give him ten gulden," said the Grandmother. "No, give him twenty. Now,
+enough of that, or I shall never get done with you all. Take a moment's
+rest, and then carry me away. Prascovia, I mean to buy a new dress for
+you tomorrow. Yes, and for you too, Mlle. Blanche. Please translate,
+Prascovia."
+
+"Merci, Madame," replied Mlle. Blanche gratefully as she twisted her
+face into the mocking smile which usually she kept only for the benefit
+of De Griers and the General. The latter looked confused, and seemed
+greatly relieved when we reached the Avenue.
+
+"How surprised Theodosia too will be!" went on the Grandmother
+(thinking of the General's nursemaid). "She, like yourselves, shall
+have the price of a new gown. Here, Alexis Ivanovitch! Give that beggar
+something" (a crooked-backed ragamuffin had approached to stare at us).
+
+"But perhaps he is NOT a beggar--only a rascal," I replied.
+
+"Never mind, never mind. Give him a gulden."
+
+I approached the beggar in question, and handed him the coin. Looking
+at me in great astonishment, he silently accepted the gulden, while
+from his person there proceeded a strong smell of liquor.
+
+"Have you never tried your luck, Alexis Ivanovitch?"
+
+"No, Madame."
+
+"Yet just now I could see that you were burning to do so?"
+
+"I do mean to try my luck presently."
+
+"Then stake everything upon zero. You have seen how it ought to be
+done? How much capital do you possess?"
+
+"Two hundred gulden, Madame."
+
+"Not very much. See here; I will lend you five hundred if you wish.
+Take this purse of mine." With that she added sharply to the General:
+"But YOU need not expect to receive any."
+
+This seemed to upset him, but he said nothing, and De Griers contented
+himself by scowling.
+
+"Que diable!" he whispered to the General. "C'est une terrible vieille."
+
+"Look! Another beggar, another beggar!" exclaimed the grandmother.
+"Alexis Ivanovitch, go and give him a gulden."
+
+As she spoke I saw approaching us a grey-headed old man with a wooden
+leg--a man who was dressed in a blue frockcoat and carrying a staff. He
+looked like an old soldier. As soon as I tendered him the coin he fell
+back a step or two, and eyed me threateningly.
+
+"Was ist der Teufel!" he cried, and appended thereto a round dozen of
+oaths.
+
+"The man is a perfect fool!" exclaimed the Grandmother, waving her
+hand. "Move on now, for I am simply famished. When we have lunched we
+will return to that place."
+
+"What?" cried I. "You are going to play again?"
+
+"What else do you suppose?" she retorted. "Are you going only to sit
+here, and grow sour, and let me look at you?"
+
+"Madame," said De Griers confidentially, "les chances peuvent tourner.
+Une seule mauvaise chance, et vous perdrez tout--surtout avec votre
+jeu. C'etait terrible!"
+
+"Oui; vous perdrez absolument," put in Mlle. Blanche.
+
+"What has that got to do with YOU?" retorted the old lady. "It is not
+YOUR money that I am going to lose; it is my own. And where is that Mr.
+Astley of yours?" she added to myself.
+
+"He stayed behind in the Casino."
+
+"What a pity! He is such a nice sort of man!"
+
+Arriving home, and meeting the landlord on the staircase, the
+Grandmother called him to her side, and boasted to him of her
+winnings--thereafter doing the same to Theodosia, and conferring upon
+her thirty gulden; after which she bid her serve luncheon. The meal
+over, Theodosia and Martha broke into a joint flood of ecstasy.
+
+"I was watching you all the time, Madame," quavered Martha, "and I
+asked Potapitch what mistress was trying to do. And, my word! the heaps
+and heaps of money that were lying upon the table! Never in my life
+have I seen so much money. And there were gentlefolk around it, and
+other gentlefolk sitting down. So, I asked Potapitch where all these
+gentry had come from; for, thought I, maybe the Holy Mother of God will
+help our mistress among them. Yes, I prayed for you, Madame, and my
+heart died within me, so that I kept trembling and trembling. The Lord
+be with her, I thought to myself; and in answer to my prayer He has now
+sent you what He has done! Even yet I tremble--I tremble to think of it
+all."
+
+"Alexis Ivanovitch," said the old lady, "after luncheon,--that is to
+say, about four o'clock--get ready to go out with me again. But in the
+meanwhile, good-bye. Do not forget to call a doctor, for I must take
+the waters. Now go and get rested a little."
+
+I left the Grandmother's presence in a state of bewilderment.
+
+Vainly I endeavoured to imagine what would become of our party, or what
+turn the affair would next take. I could perceive that none of the
+party had yet recovered their presence of mind--least of all the
+General. The factor of the Grandmother's appearance in place of the
+hourly expected telegram to announce her death (with, of course,
+resultant legacies) had so upset the whole scheme of intentions and
+projects that it was with a decided feeling of apprehension and growing
+paralysis that the conspirators viewed any future performances of the
+old lady at roulette. Yet this second factor was not quite so important
+as the first, since, though the Grandmother had twice declared that she
+did not intend to give the General any money, that declaration was not
+a complete ground for the abandonment of hope. Certainly De Griers,
+who, with the General, was up to the neck in the affair, had not wholly
+lost courage; and I felt sure that Mlle. Blanche also--Mlle. Blanche
+who was not only as deeply involved as the other two, but also
+expectant of becoming Madame General and an important legatee--would
+not lightly surrender the position, but would use her every resource of
+coquetry upon the old lady, in order to afford a contrast to the
+impetuous Polina, who was difficult to understand, and lacked the art
+of pleasing.
+
+Yet now, when the Grandmother had just performed an astonishing feat at
+roulette; now, when the old lady's personality had been so clearly and
+typically revealed as that of a rugged, arrogant woman who was "tombee
+en enfance"; now, when everything appeared to be lost,--why, now the
+Grandmother was as merry as a child which plays with thistle-down.
+"Good Lord!" I thought with, may God forgive me, a most malicious
+smile, "every ten-gulden piece which the Grandmother staked must have
+raised a blister on the General's heart, and maddened De Griers, and
+driven Mlle. de Cominges almost to frenzy with the sight of this spoon
+dangling before her lips." Another factor is the circumstance that even
+when, overjoyed at winning, the Grandmother was distributing alms right
+and left, and taking every one to be a beggar, she again snapped out to
+the General that he was not going to be allowed any of her money--which
+meant that the old lady had quite made up her mind on the point, and
+was sure of it. Yes, danger loomed ahead.
+
+All these thoughts passed through my mind during the few moments that,
+having left the old lady's rooms, I was ascending to my own room on the
+top storey. What most struck me was the fact that, though I had divined
+the chief, the stoutest, threads which united the various actors in the
+drama, I had, until now, been ignorant of the methods and secrets of
+the game. For Polina had never been completely open with me. Although,
+on occasions, it had happened that involuntarily, as it were, she had
+revealed to me something of her heart, I had noticed that in most
+cases--in fact, nearly always--she had either laughed away these
+revelations, or grown confused, or purposely imparted to them a false
+guise. Yes, she must have concealed a great deal from me. But, I had a
+presentiment that now the end of this strained and mysterious situation
+was approaching. Another stroke, and all would be finished and exposed.
+Of my own fortunes, interested though I was in the affair, I took no
+account. I was in the strange position of possessing but two hundred
+gulden, of being at a loose end, of lacking both a post, the means of
+subsistence, a shred of hope, and any plans for the future, yet of
+caring nothing for these things. Had not my mind been so full of
+Polina, I should have given myself up to the comical piquancy of the
+impending denouement, and laughed my fill at it. But the thought of
+Polina was torture to me. That her fate was settled I already had an
+inkling; yet that was not the thought which was giving me so much
+uneasiness. What I really wished for was to penetrate her secrets. I
+wanted her to come to me and say, "I love you," and, if she would not
+so come, or if to hope that she would ever do so was an unthinkable
+absurdity--why, then there was nothing else for me to want. Even now I
+do not know what I am wanting. I feel like a man who has lost his way.
+I yearn but to be in her presence, and within the circle of her light
+and splendour--to be there now, and forever, and for the whole of my
+life. More I do not know. How can I ever bring myself to leave her?
+
+On reaching the third storey of the hotel I experienced a shock. I was
+just passing the General's suite when something caused me to look
+round. Out of a door about twenty paces away there was coming Polina!
+She hesitated for a moment on seeing me, and then beckoned me to her.
+
+"Polina Alexandrovna!"
+
+"Hush! Not so loud."
+
+"Something startled me just now," I whispered, "and I looked round, and
+saw you. Some electrical influence seems to emanate from your form."
+
+"Take this letter," she went on with a frown (probably she had not even
+heard my words, she was so preoccupied), "and hand it personally to Mr.
+Astley. Go as quickly as ever you can, please. No answer will be
+required. He himself--" She did not finish her sentence.
+
+"To Mr. Astley?" I asked, in some astonishment.
+
+But she had vanished again.
+
+Aha! So the two were carrying on a correspondence! However, I set off
+to search for Astley--first at his hotel, and then at the Casino, where
+I went the round of the salons in vain. At length, vexed, and almost in
+despair, I was on my way home when I ran across him among a troop of
+English ladies and gentlemen who had been out for a ride. Beckoning to
+him to stop, I handed him the letter. We had barely time even to look
+at one another, but I suspected that it was of set purpose that he
+restarted his horse so quickly.
+
+Was jealousy, then, gnawing at me? At all events, I felt exceedingly
+depressed, despite the fact that I had no desire to ascertain what the
+correspondence was about. To think that HE should be her confidant! "My
+friend, mine own familiar friend!" passed through my mind. Yet WAS
+there any love in the matter? "Of course not," reason whispered to me.
+But reason goes for little on such occasions. I felt that the matter
+must be cleared up, for it was becoming unpleasantly complex.
+
+I had scarcely set foot in the hotel when the commissionaire and the
+landlord (the latter issuing from his room for the purpose) alike
+informed me that I was being searched for high and low--that three
+separate messages to ascertain my whereabouts had come down from the
+General. When I entered his study I was feeling anything but kindly
+disposed. I found there the General himself, De Griers, and Mlle.
+Blanche, but not Mlle.'s mother, who was a person whom her reputed
+daughter used only for show purposes, since in all matters of business
+the daughter fended for herself, and it is unlikely that the mother
+knew anything about them.
+
+Some very heated discussion was in progress, and meanwhile the door of
+the study was open--an unprecedented circumstance. As I approached the
+portals I could hear loud voices raised, for mingled with the pert,
+venomous accents of De Griers were Mlle. Blanche's excited, impudently
+abusive tongue and the General's plaintive wail as, apparently, he
+sought to justify himself in something. But on my appearance every one
+stopped speaking, and tried to put a better face upon matters. De
+Griers smoothed his hair, and twisted his angry face into a smile--into
+the mean, studiedly polite French smile which I so detested; while the
+downcast, perplexed General assumed an air of dignity--though only in a
+mechanical way. On the other hand, Mlle. Blanche did not trouble to
+conceal the wrath that was sparkling in her countenance, but bent her
+gaze upon me with an air of impatient expectancy. I may remark that
+hitherto she had treated me with absolute superciliousness, and, so far
+from answering my salutations, had always ignored them.
+
+"Alexis Ivanovitch," began the General in a tone of affectionate
+upbraiding, "may I say to you that I find it strange, exceedingly
+strange, that--In short, your conduct towards myself and my family-- In
+a word, your--er--extremely--"
+
+"Eh! Ce n'est pas ca," interrupted De Griers in a tone of impatience
+and contempt (evidently he was the ruling spirit of the conclave). "Mon
+cher monsieur, notre general se trompe. What he means to say is that he
+warns you--he begs of you most earnestly--not to ruin him. I use the
+expression because--"
+
+"Why? Why?" I interjected.
+
+"Because you have taken upon yourself to act as guide to this, to
+this--how shall I express it?--to this old lady, a cette pauvre
+terrible vieille. But she will only gamble away all that she
+has--gamble it away like thistledown. You yourself have seen her play.
+Once she has acquired the taste for gambling, she will never leave the
+roulette-table, but, of sheer perversity and temper, will stake her
+all, and lose it. In cases such as hers a gambler can never be torn
+away from the game; and then--and then--"
+
+"And then," asseverated the General, "you will have ruined my whole
+family. I and my family are her heirs, for she has no nearer relatives
+than ourselves. I tell you frankly that my affairs are in great--very
+great disorder; how much they are so you yourself are partially aware.
+If she should lose a large sum, or, maybe, her whole fortune, what will
+become of us--of my children" (here the General exchanged a glance with
+De Griers) "or of me?" (here he looked at Mlle. Blanche, who turned her
+head contemptuously away). "Alexis Ivanovitch, I beg of you to save us."
+
+"Tell me, General, how am I to do so? On what footing do I stand here?"
+
+"Refuse to take her about. Simply leave her alone."
+
+"But she would soon find some one else to take my place?"
+
+"Ce n'est pas ca, ce n'est pas ca," again interrupted De Griers. "Que
+diable! Do not leave her alone so much as advise her, persuade her,
+draw her away. In any case do not let her gamble; find her some
+counter-attraction."
+
+"And how am I to do that? If only you would undertake the task,
+Monsieur de Griers!" I said this last as innocently as possible, but at
+once saw a rapid glance of excited interrogation pass from Mlle.
+Blanche to De Griers, while in the face of the latter also there
+gleamed something which he could not repress.
+
+"Well, at the present moment she would refuse to accept my services,"
+said he with a gesture. "But if, later--"
+
+Here he gave Mlle. Blanche another glance which was full of meaning;
+whereupon she advanced towards me with a bewitching smile, and seized
+and pressed my hands. Devil take it, but how that devilish visage of
+hers could change! At the present moment it was a visage full of
+supplication, and as gentle in its expression as that of a smiling,
+roguish infant. Stealthily, she drew me apart from the rest as though
+the more completely to separate me from them; and, though no harm came
+of her doing so--for it was merely a stupid manoeuvre, and no more--I
+found the situation very unpleasant.
+
+The General hastened to lend her his support.
+
+"Alexis Ivanovitch," he began, "pray pardon me for having said what I
+did just now--for having said more than I meant to do. I beg and
+beseech you, I kiss the hem of your garment, as our Russian saying has
+it, for you, and only you, can save us. I and Mlle. de Cominges, we all
+of us beg of you--But you understand, do you not? Surely you
+understand?" and with his eyes he indicated Mlle. Blanche. Truly he was
+cutting a pitiful figure!
+
+At this moment three low, respectful knocks sounded at the door; which,
+on being opened, revealed a chambermaid, with Potapitch behind
+her--come from the Grandmother to request that I should attend her in
+her rooms. "She is in a bad humour," added Potapitch.
+
+The time was half-past three.
+
+"My mistress was unable to sleep," explained Potapitch; "so, after
+tossing about for a while, she suddenly rose, called for her chair, and
+sent me to look for you. She is now in the verandah."
+
+"Quelle megere!" exclaimed De Griers.
+
+True enough, I found Madame in the hotel verandah--much put about at my
+delay, for she had been unable to contain herself until four o'clock.
+
+"Lift me up," she cried to the bearers, and once more we set out for
+the roulette-salons.
+
+
+
+XII
+
+The Grandmother was in an impatient, irritable frame of mind. Without
+doubt the roulette had turned her head, for she appeared to be
+indifferent to everything else, and, in general, seemed much
+distraught. For instance, she asked me no questions about objects en
+route, except that, when a sumptuous barouche passed us and raised a
+cloud of dust, she lifted her hand for a moment, and inquired, "What
+was that?" Yet even then she did not appear to hear my reply, although
+at times her abstraction was interrupted by sallies and fits of sharp,
+impatient fidgeting. Again, when I pointed out to her the Baron and
+Baroness Burmergelm walking to the Casino, she merely looked at them in
+an absent-minded sort of way, and said with complete indifference,
+"Ah!" Then, turning sharply to Potapitch and Martha, who were walking
+behind us, she rapped out:
+
+"Why have YOU attached yourselves to the party? We are not going to
+take you with us every time. Go home at once." Then, when the servants
+had pulled hasty bows and departed, she added to me: "You are all the
+escort I need."
+
+At the Casino the Grandmother seemed to be expected, for no time was
+lost in procuring her former place beside the croupier. It is my
+opinion that though croupiers seem such ordinary, humdrum
+officials--men who care nothing whether the bank wins or loses--they
+are, in reality, anything but indifferent to the bank's losing, and are
+given instructions to attract players, and to keep a watch over the
+bank's interests; as also, that for such services, these officials are
+awarded prizes and premiums. At all events, the croupiers of
+Roulettenberg seemed to look upon the Grandmother as their lawful
+prey--whereafter there befell what our party had foretold.
+
+It happened thus:
+
+As soon as ever we arrived the Grandmother ordered me to stake twelve
+ten-gulden pieces in succession upon zero. Once, twice, and thrice I
+did so, yet zero never turned up.
+
+"Stake again," said the old lady with an impatient nudge of my elbow,
+and I obeyed.
+
+"How many times have we lost?" she inquired--actually grinding her
+teeth in her excitement.
+
+"We have lost 144 ten-gulden pieces," I replied. "I tell you, Madame,
+that zero may not turn up until nightfall."
+
+"Never mind," she interrupted. "Keep on staking upon zero, and also
+stake a thousand gulden upon rouge. Here is a banknote with which to do
+so."
+
+The red turned up, but zero missed again, and we only got our thousand
+gulden back.
+
+"But you see, you see," whispered the old lady. "We have now recovered
+almost all that we staked. Try zero again. Let us do so another ten
+times, and then leave off."
+
+By the fifth round, however, the Grandmother was weary of the scheme.
+
+"To the devil with that zero!" she exclaimed. "Stake four thousand
+gulden upon the red."
+
+"But, Madame, that will be so much to venture!" I remonstrated.
+"Suppose the red should not turn up?" The Grandmother almost struck me
+in her excitement. Her agitation was rapidly making her quarrelsome.
+Consequently, there was nothing for it but to stake the whole four
+thousand gulden as she had directed.
+
+The wheel revolved while the Grandmother sat as bolt upright, and with
+as proud and quiet a mien, as though she had not the least doubt of
+winning.
+
+"Zero!" cried the croupier.
+
+At first the old lady failed to understand the situation; but, as soon
+as she saw the croupier raking in her four thousand gulden, together
+with everything else that happened to be lying on the table, and
+recognised that the zero which had been so long turning up, and on
+which we had lost nearly two hundred ten-gulden pieces, had at length,
+as though of set purpose, made a sudden reappearance--why, the poor old
+lady fell to cursing it, and to throwing herself about, and wailing and
+gesticulating at the company at large. Indeed, some people in our
+vicinity actually burst out laughing.
+
+"To think that that accursed zero should have turned up NOW!" she
+sobbed. "The accursed, accursed thing! And, it is all YOUR fault," she
+added, rounding upon me in a frenzy. "It was you who persuaded me to
+cease staking upon it."
+
+"But, Madame, I only explained the game to you. How am I to answer for
+every mischance which may occur in it?"
+
+"You and your mischances!" she whispered threateningly. "Go! Away at
+once!"
+
+"Farewell, then, Madame." And I turned to depart.
+
+"No--stay," she put in hastily. "Where are you going to? Why should you
+leave me? You fool! No, no... stay here. It is I who was the fool. Tell
+me what I ought to do."
+
+"I cannot take it upon myself to advise you, for you will only blame me
+if I do so. Play at your own discretion. Say exactly what you wish
+staked, and I will stake it."
+
+"Very well. Stake another four thousand gulden upon the red. Take this
+banknote to do it with. I have still got twenty thousand roubles in
+actual cash."
+
+"But," I whispered, "such a quantity of money--"
+
+"Never mind. I cannot rest until I have won back my losses. Stake!"
+
+I staked, and we lost.
+
+"Stake again, stake again--eight thousand at a stroke!"
+
+"I cannot, Madame. The largest stake allowed is four thousand gulden."
+
+"Well, then; stake four thousand."
+
+This time we won, and the Grandmother recovered herself a little.
+
+"You see, you see!" she exclaimed as she nudged me. "Stake another four
+thousand."
+
+I did so, and lost. Again, and yet again, we lost. "Madame, your twelve
+thousand gulden are now gone," at length I reported.
+
+"I see they are," she replied with, as it were, the calmness of
+despair. "I see they are," she muttered again as she gazed straight in
+front of her, like a person lost in thought. "Ah well, I do not mean to
+rest until I have staked another four thousand."
+
+"But you have no money with which to do it, Madame. In this satchel I
+can see only a few five percent bonds and some transfers--no actual
+cash."
+
+"And in the purse?"
+
+"A mere trifle."
+
+"But there is a money-changer's office here, is there not? They told me
+I should be able to get any sort of paper security changed!"
+
+"Quite so; to any amount you please. But you will lose on the
+transaction what would frighten even a Jew."
+
+"Rubbish! I am DETERMINED to retrieve my losses. Take me away, and call
+those fools of bearers."
+
+I wheeled the chair out of the throng, and, the bearers making their
+appearance, we left the Casino.
+
+"Hurry, hurry!" commanded the Grandmother. "Show me the nearest way to
+the money-changer's. Is it far?"
+
+"A couple of steps, Madame."
+
+At the turning from the square into the Avenue we came face to face
+with the whole of our party--the General, De Griers, Mlle. Blanche, and
+her mother. Only Polina and Mr. Astley were absent.
+
+"Well, well, well!" exclaimed the Grandmother. "But we have no time to
+stop. What do you want? I can't talk to you here."
+
+I dropped behind a little, and immediately was pounced upon by De
+Griers.
+
+"She has lost this morning's winnings," I whispered, "and also twelve
+thousand gulden of her original money. At the present moment we are
+going to get some bonds changed."
+
+De Griers stamped his foot with vexation, and hastened to communicate
+the tidings to the General. Meanwhile we continued to wheel the old
+lady along.
+
+"Stop her, stop her," whispered the General in consternation.
+
+"You had better try and stop her yourself," I returned--also in a
+whisper.
+
+"My good mother," he said as he approached her, "--my good mother, pray
+let, let--" (his voice was beginning to tremble and sink) "--let us
+hire a carriage, and go for a drive. Near here there is an enchanting
+view to be obtained. We-we-we were just coming to invite you to go and
+see it."
+
+"Begone with you and your views!" said the Grandmother angrily as she
+waved him away.
+
+"And there are trees there, and we could have tea under them,"
+continued the General--now in utter despair.
+
+"Nous boirons du lait, sur l'herbe fraiche," added De Griers with the
+snarl almost of a wild beast.
+
+"Du lait, de l'herbe fraiche"--the idyll, the ideal of the Parisian
+bourgeois--his whole outlook upon "la nature et la verite"!
+
+"Have done with you and your milk!" cried the old lady. "Go and stuff
+YOURSELF as much as you like, but my stomach simply recoils from the
+idea. What are you stopping for? I have nothing to say to you."
+
+"Here we are, Madame," I announced. "Here is the moneychanger's office."
+
+I entered to get the securities changed, while the Grandmother remained
+outside in the porch, and the rest waited at a little distance, in
+doubt as to their best course of action. At length the old lady turned
+such an angry stare upon them that they departed along the road towards
+the Casino.
+
+The process of changing involved complicated calculations which soon
+necessitated my return to the Grandmother for instructions.
+
+"The thieves!" she exclaimed as she clapped her hands together. "Never
+mind, though. Get the documents cashed--No; send the banker out to me,"
+she added as an afterthought.
+
+"Would one of the clerks do, Madame?"
+
+"Yes, one of the clerks. The thieves!"
+
+The clerk consented to come out when he perceived that he was being
+asked for by an old lady who was too infirm to walk; after which the
+Grandmother began to upbraid him at length, and with great vehemence,
+for his alleged usuriousness, and to bargain with him in a mixture of
+Russian, French, and German--I acting as interpreter. Meanwhile, the
+grave-faced official eyed us both, and silently nodded his head. At the
+Grandmother, in particular, he gazed with a curiosity which almost
+bordered upon rudeness. At length, too, he smiled.
+
+"Pray recollect yourself!" cried the old lady. "And may my money choke
+you! Alexis Ivanovitch, tell him that we can easily repair to someone
+else."
+
+"The clerk says that others will give you even less than he."
+
+Of what the ultimate calculations consisted I do not exactly remember,
+but at all events they were alarming. Receiving twelve thousand florins
+in gold, I took also the statement of accounts, and carried it out to
+the Grandmother.
+
+"Well, well," she said, "I am no accountant. Let us hurry away, hurry
+away." And she waved the paper aside.
+
+"Neither upon that accursed zero, however, nor upon that equally
+accursed red do I mean to stake a cent," I muttered to myself as I
+entered the Casino.
+
+This time I did all I could to persuade the old lady to stake as little
+as possible--saying that a turn would come in the chances when she
+would be at liberty to stake more. But she was so impatient that,
+though at first she agreed to do as I suggested, nothing could stop her
+when once she had begun. By way of prelude she won stakes of a hundred
+and two hundred gulden.
+
+"There you are!" she said as she nudged me. "See what we have won!
+Surely it would be worth our while to stake four thousand instead of a
+hundred, for we might win another four thousand, and then--! Oh, it was
+YOUR fault before--all your fault!"
+
+I felt greatly put out as I watched her play, but I decided to hold my
+tongue, and to give her no more advice.
+
+Suddenly De Griers appeared on the scene. It seemed that all this while
+he and his companions had been standing beside us--though I noticed
+that Mlle. Blanche had withdrawn a little from the rest, and was
+engaged in flirting with the Prince. Clearly the General was greatly
+put out at this. Indeed, he was in a perfect agony of vexation. But
+Mlle. was careful never to look his way, though he did his best to
+attract her notice. Poor General! By turns his face blanched and
+reddened, and he was trembling to such an extent that he could scarcely
+follow the old lady's play. At length Mlle. and the Prince took their
+departure, and the General followed them.
+
+"Madame, Madame," sounded the honeyed accents of De Griers as he leant
+over to whisper in the Grandmother's ear. "That stake will never win.
+No, no, it is impossible," he added in Russian with a writhe. "No, no!"
+
+"But why not?" asked the Grandmother, turning round. "Show me what I
+ought to do."
+
+Instantly De Griers burst into a babble of French as he advised, jumped
+about, declared that such and such chances ought to be waited for, and
+started to make calculations of figures. All this he addressed to me in
+my capacity as translator--tapping the table the while with his finger,
+and pointing hither and thither. At length he seized a pencil, and
+began to reckon sums on paper until he had exhausted the Grandmother's
+patience.
+
+"Away with you!" she interrupted. "You talk sheer nonsense, for, though
+you keep on saying 'Madame, Madame,' you haven't the least notion what
+ought to be done. Away with you, I say!"
+
+"Mais, Madame," cooed De Griers--and straightway started afresh with
+his fussy instructions.
+
+"Stake just ONCE, as he advises," the Grandmother said to me, "and then
+we shall see what we shall see. Of course, his stake MIGHT win."
+
+As a matter of fact, De Grier's one object was to distract the old lady
+from staking large sums; wherefore, he now suggested to her that she
+should stake upon certain numbers, singly and in groups. Consequently,
+in accordance with his instructions, I staked a ten-gulden piece upon
+several odd numbers in the first twenty, and five ten-gulden pieces
+upon certain groups of numbers-groups of from twelve to eighteen, and
+from eighteen to twenty-four. The total staked amounted to 160 gulden.
+
+The wheel revolved. "Zero!" cried the croupier.
+
+We had lost it all!
+
+"The fool!" cried the old lady as she turned upon De Griers. "You
+infernal Frenchman, to think that you should advise! Away with you!
+Though you fuss and fuss, you don't even know what you're talking
+about."
+
+Deeply offended, De Griers shrugged his shoulders, favoured the
+Grandmother with a look of contempt, and departed. For some time past
+he had been feeling ashamed of being seen in such company, and this had
+proved the last straw.
+
+An hour later we had lost everything in hand.
+
+"Home!" cried the Grandmother.
+
+Not until we had turned into the Avenue did she utter a word; but from
+that point onwards, until we arrived at the hotel, she kept venting
+exclamations of "What a fool I am! What a silly old fool I am, to be
+sure!"
+
+Arrived at the hotel, she called for tea, and then gave orders for her
+luggage to be packed.
+
+"We are off again," she announced.
+
+"But whither, Madame?" inquired Martha.
+
+"What business is that of YOURS? Let the cricket stick to its hearth.
+[The Russian form of "Mind your own business."] Potapitch, have
+everything packed, for we are returning to Moscow at once. I have
+fooled away fifteen thousand roubles."
+
+"Fifteen thousand roubles, good mistress? My God!" And Potapitch spat
+upon his hands--probably to show that he was ready to serve her in any
+way he could.
+
+"Now then, you fool! At once you begin with your weeping and wailing!
+Be quiet, and pack. Also, run downstairs, and get my hotel bill."
+
+"The next train leaves at 9:30, Madame," I interposed, with a view to
+checking her agitation.
+
+"And what is the time now?"
+
+"Half-past eight."
+
+"How vexing! But, never mind. Alexis Ivanovitch, I have not a kopeck
+left; I have but these two bank notes. Please run to the office and get
+them changed. Otherwise I shall have nothing to travel with."
+
+Departing on her errand, I returned half an hour later to find the
+whole party gathered in her rooms. It appeared that the news of her
+impending departure for Moscow had thrown the conspirators into
+consternation even greater than her losses had done. For, said they,
+even if her departure should save her fortune, what will become of the
+General later? And who is to repay De Griers? Clearly Mlle. Blanche
+would never consent to wait until the Grandmother was dead, but would
+at once elope with the Prince or someone else. So they had all gathered
+together--endeavouring to calm and dissuade the Grandmother. Only
+Polina was absent. For her part the Grandmother had nothing for the
+party but abuse.
+
+"Away with you, you rascals!" she was shouting. "What have my affairs
+to do with you? Why, in particular, do you"--here she indicated De
+Griers--"come sneaking here with your goat's beard? And what do
+YOU"--here she turned to Mlle. Blanche "want of me? What are YOU
+finicking for?"
+
+"Diantre!" muttered Mlle. under her breath, but her eyes were flashing.
+Then all at once she burst into a laugh and left the room--crying to
+the General as she did so: "Elle vivra cent ans!"
+
+"So you have been counting upon my death, have you?" fumed the old
+lady. "Away with you! Clear them out of the room, Alexis Ivanovitch.
+What business is it of THEIRS? It is not THEIR money that I have been
+squandering, but my own."
+
+The General shrugged his shoulders, bowed, and withdrew, with De Griers
+behind him.
+
+"Call Prascovia," commanded the Grandmother, and in five minutes Martha
+reappeared with Polina, who had been sitting with the children in her
+own room (having purposely determined not to leave it that day). Her
+face looked grave and careworn.
+
+"Prascovia," began the Grandmother, "is what I have just heard through
+a side wind true--namely, that this fool of a stepfather of yours is
+going to marry that silly whirligig of a Frenchwoman--that actress, or
+something worse? Tell me, is it true?"
+
+"I do not know FOR CERTAIN, Grandmamma," replied Polina; "but from
+Mlle. Blanche's account (for she does not appear to think it necessary
+to conceal anything) I conclude that--"
+
+"You need not say any more," interrupted the Grandmother energetically.
+"I understand the situation. I always thought we should get something
+like this from him, for I always looked upon him as a futile, frivolous
+fellow who gave himself unconscionable airs on the fact of his being a
+general (though he only became one because he retired as a colonel).
+Yes, I know all about the sending of the telegrams to inquire whether
+'the old woman is likely to turn up her toes soon.' Ah, they were
+looking for the legacies! Without money that wretched woman (what is
+her name?--Oh, De Cominges) would never dream of accepting the General
+and his false teeth--no, not even for him to be her lacquey--since she
+herself, they say, possesses a pile of money, and lends it on interest,
+and makes a good thing out of it. However, it is not you, Prascovia,
+that I am blaming; it was not you who sent those telegrams. Nor, for
+that matter, do I wish to recall old scores. True, I know that you are
+a vixen by nature--that you are a wasp which will sting one if one
+touches it--yet, my heart is sore for you, for I loved your mother,
+Katerina. Now, will you leave everything here, and come away with me?
+Otherwise, I do not know what is to become of you, and it is not right
+that you should continue living with these people. Nay," she
+interposed, the moment that Polina attempted to speak, "I have not yet
+finished. I ask of you nothing in return. My house in Moscow is, as you
+know, large enough for a palace, and you could occupy a whole floor of
+it if you liked, and keep away from me for weeks together. Will you
+come with me or will you not?"
+
+"First of all, let me ask of YOU," replied Polina, "whether you are
+intending to depart at once?"
+
+"What? You suppose me to be jesting? I have said that I am going, and I
+AM going. Today I have squandered fifteen thousand roubles at that
+accursed roulette of yours, and though, five years ago, I promised the
+people of a certain suburb of Moscow to build them a stone church in
+place of a wooden one, I have been fooling away my money here! However,
+I am going back now to build my church."
+
+"But what about the waters, Grandmamma? Surely you came here to take
+the waters?"
+
+"You and your waters! Do not anger me, Prascovia. Surely you are trying
+to? Say, then: will you, or will you not, come with me?"
+
+"Grandmamma," Polina replied with deep feeling, "I am very, very
+grateful to you for the shelter which you have so kindly offered me.
+Also, to a certain extent you have guessed my position aright, and I am
+beholden to you to such an extent that it may be that I will come and
+live with you, and that very soon; yet there are important reasons
+why--why I cannot make up my mind just yet. If you would let me have,
+say, a couple of weeks to decide in--?"
+
+"You mean that you are NOT coming?"
+
+"I mean only that I cannot come just yet. At all events, I could not
+well leave my little brother and sister here, since, since--if I were
+to leave them--they would be abandoned altogether. But if, Grandmamma,
+you would take the little ones AND myself, then, of course, I could
+come with you, and would do all I could to serve you" (this she said
+with great earnestness). "Only, without the little ones I CANNOT come."
+
+"Do not make a fuss" (as a matter of fact Polina never at any time
+either fussed or wept). "The Great Foster--Father [Translated
+literally--The Great Poulterer] can find for all his chicks a place.
+You are not coming without the children? But see here, Prascovia. I
+wish you well, and nothing but well: yet I have divined the reason why
+you will not come. Yes, I know all, Prascovia. That Frenchman will
+never bring you good of any sort."
+
+Polina coloured hotly, and even I started. "For," thought I to myself,
+"every one seems to know about that affair. Or perhaps I am the only
+one who does not know about it?"
+
+"Now, now! Do not frown," continued the Grandmother. "But I do not
+intend to slur things over. You will take care that no harm befalls
+you, will you not? For you are a girl of sense, and I am sorry for
+you--I regard you in a different light to the rest of them. And now,
+please, leave me. Good-bye."
+
+"But let me stay with you a little longer," said Polina.
+
+"No," replied the other; "you need not. Do not bother me, for you and
+all of them have tired me out."
+
+Yet when Polina tried to kiss the Grandmother's hand, the old lady
+withdrew it, and herself kissed the girl on the cheek. As she passed
+me, Polina gave me a momentary glance, and then as swiftly averted her
+eyes.
+
+"And good-bye to you, also, Alexis Ivanovitch. The train starts in an
+hour's time, and I think that you must be weary of me. Take these five
+hundred gulden for yourself."
+
+"I thank you humbly, Madame, but I am ashamed to--"
+
+"Come, come!" cried the Grandmother so energetically, and with such an
+air of menace, that I did not dare refuse the money further.
+
+"If, when in Moscow, you have no place where you can lay your head,"
+she added, "come and see me, and I will give you a recommendation. Now,
+Potapitch, get things ready."
+
+I ascended to my room, and lay down upon the bed. A whole hour I must
+have lain thus, with my head resting upon my hand. So the crisis had
+come! I needed time for its consideration. To-morrow I would have a
+talk with Polina. Ah! The Frenchman! So, it was true? But how could it
+be so? Polina and De Griers! What a combination!
+
+No, it was too improbable. Suddenly I leapt up with the idea of seeking
+Astley and forcing him to speak. There could be no doubt that he knew
+more than I did. Astley? Well, he was another problem for me to solve.
+
+Suddenly there came a knock at the door, and I opened it to find
+Potapitch awaiting me.
+
+"Sir," he said, "my mistress is asking for you."
+
+"Indeed? But she is just departing, is she not? The train leaves in ten
+minutes' time."
+
+"She is uneasy, sir; she cannot rest. Come quickly, sir; do not delay."
+
+I ran downstairs at once. The Grandmother was just being carried out of
+her rooms into the corridor. In her hands she held a roll of bank-notes.
+
+"Alexis Ivanovitch," she cried, "walk on ahead, and we will set out
+again."
+
+"But whither, Madame?"
+
+"I cannot rest until I have retrieved my losses. March on ahead, and
+ask me no questions. Play continues until midnight, does it not?"
+
+For a moment I stood stupefied--stood deep in thought; but it was not
+long before I had made up my mind.
+
+"With your leave, Madame," I said, "I will not go with you."
+
+"And why not? What do you mean? Is every one here a stupid
+good-for-nothing?"
+
+"Pardon me, but I have nothing to reproach myself with. I merely will
+not go. I merely intend neither to witness nor to join in your play. I
+also beg to return you your five hundred gulden. Farewell."
+
+Laying the money upon a little table which the Grandmother's chair
+happened to be passing, I bowed and withdrew.
+
+"What folly!" the Grandmother shouted after me. "Very well, then. Do
+not come, and I will find my way alone. Potapitch, you must come with
+me. Lift up the chair, and carry me along."
+
+I failed to find Mr. Astley, and returned home. It was now growing
+late--it was past midnight, but I subsequently learnt from Potapitch
+how the Grandmother's day had ended. She had lost all the money which,
+earlier in the day, I had got for her paper securities--a sum amounting
+to about ten thousand roubles. This she did under the direction of the
+Pole whom, that afternoon, she had dowered with two ten-gulden pieces.
+But before his arrival on the scene, she had commanded Potapitch to
+stake for her; until at length she had told him also to go about his
+business. Upon that the Pole had leapt into the breach. Not only did it
+happen that he knew the Russian language, but also he could speak a
+mixture of three different dialects, so that the pair were able to
+understand one another. Yet the old lady never ceased to abuse him,
+despite his deferential manner, and to compare him unfavourably with
+myself (so, at all events, Potapitch declared). "You," the old
+chamberlain said to me, "treated her as a gentleman should, but he--he
+robbed her right and left, as I could see with my own eyes. Twice she
+caught him at it, and rated him soundly. On one occasion she even
+pulled his hair, so that the bystanders burst out laughing. Yet she
+lost everything, sir--that is to say, she lost all that you had changed
+for her. Then we brought her home, and, after asking for some water and
+saying her prayers, she went to bed. So worn out was she that she fell
+asleep at once. May God send her dreams of angels! And this is all that
+foreign travel has done for us! Oh, my own Moscow! For what have we not
+at home there, in Moscow? Such a garden and flowers as you could never
+see here, and fresh air and apple-trees coming into blossom,--and a
+beautiful view to look upon. Ah, but what must she do but go travelling
+abroad? Alack, alack!"
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+Almost a month has passed since I last touched these notes--notes which
+I began under the influence of impressions at once poignant and
+disordered. The crisis which I then felt to be approaching has now
+arrived, but in a form a hundred times more extensive and unexpected
+than I had looked for. To me it all seems strange, uncouth, and tragic.
+Certain occurrences have befallen me which border upon the marvellous.
+At all events, that is how I view them. I view them so in one regard at
+least. I refer to the whirlpool of events in which, at the time, I was
+revolving. But the most curious feature of all is my relation to those
+events, for hitherto I had never clearly understood myself. Yet now the
+actual crisis has passed away like a dream. Even my passion for Polina
+is dead. Was it ever so strong and genuine as I thought? If so, what
+has become of it now? At times I fancy that I must be mad; that
+somewhere I am sitting in a madhouse; that these events have merely
+SEEMED to happen; that still they merely SEEM to be happening.
+
+I have been arranging and re-perusing my notes (perhaps for the purpose
+of convincing myself that I am not in a madhouse). At present I am
+lonely and alone. Autumn is coming--already it is mellowing the leaves;
+and, as I sit brooding in this melancholy little town (and how
+melancholy the little towns of Germany can be!), I find myself taking
+no thought for the future, but living under the influence of passing
+moods, and of my recollections of the tempest which recently drew me
+into its vortex, and then cast me out again. At times I seem still to
+be caught within that vortex. At times, the tempest seems once more to
+be gathering, and, as it passes overhead, to be wrapping me in its
+folds, until I have lost my sense of order and reality, and continue
+whirling and whirling and whirling around.
+
+Yet, it may be that I shall be able to stop myself from revolving if
+once I can succeed in rendering myself an exact account of what has
+happened within the month just past. Somehow I feel drawn towards the
+pen; on many and many an evening I have had nothing else in the world
+to do. But, curiously enough, of late I have taken to amusing myself
+with the works of M. Paul de Kock, which I read in German translations
+obtained from a wretched local library. These works I cannot abide, yet
+I read them, and find myself marvelling that I should be doing so.
+Somehow I seem to be afraid of any SERIOUS book--afraid of permitting
+any SERIOUS preoccupation to break the spell of the passing moment. So
+dear to me is the formless dream of which I have spoken, so dear to me
+are the impressions which it has left behind it, that I fear to touch
+the vision with anything new, lest it should dissolve in smoke. But is
+it so dear to me? Yes, it IS dear to me, and will ever be fresh in my
+recollections--even forty years hence....
+
+So let me write of it, but only partially, and in a more abridged form
+than my full impressions might warrant.
+
+First of all, let me conclude the history of the Grandmother. Next day
+she lost every gulden that she possessed. Things were bound to happen
+so, for persons of her type who have once entered upon that road
+descend it with ever-increasing rapidity, even as a sledge descends a
+toboggan-slide. All day until eight o'clock that evening did she play;
+and, though I personally did not witness her exploits, I learnt of them
+later through report.
+
+All that day Potapitch remained in attendance upon her; but the Poles
+who directed her play she changed more than once. As a beginning she
+dismissed her Pole of the previous day--the Pole whose hair she had
+pulled--and took to herself another one; but the latter proved worse
+even than the former, and incurred dismissal in favour of the first
+Pole, who, during the time of his unemployment, had nevertheless
+hovered around the Grandmother's chair, and from time to time obtruded
+his head over her shoulder. At length the old lady became desperate,
+for the second Pole, when dismissed, imitated his predecessor by
+declining to go away; with the result that one Pole remained standing
+on the right of the victim, and the other on her left; from which
+vantage points the pair quarrelled, abused each other concerning the
+stakes and rounds, and exchanged the epithet "laidak" [Rascal] and
+other Polish terms of endearment. Finally, they effected a mutual
+reconciliation, and, tossing the money about anyhow, played simply at
+random. Once more quarrelling, each of them staked money on his own
+side of the Grandmother's chair (for instance, the one Pole staked upon
+the red, and the other one upon the black), until they had so confused
+and browbeaten the old lady that, nearly weeping, she was forced to
+appeal to the head croupier for protection, and to have the two Poles
+expelled. No time was lost in this being done, despite the rascals'
+cries and protestations that the old lady was in their debt, that she
+had cheated them, and that her general behaviour had been mean and
+dishonourable. The same evening the unfortunate Potapitch related the
+story to me with tears complaining that the two men had filled their
+pockets with money (he himself had seen them do it) which had been
+shamelessly pilfered from his mistress. For instance, one Pole demanded
+of the Grandmother fifty gulden for his trouble, and then staked the
+money by the side of her stake. She happened to win; whereupon he cried
+out that the winning stake was his, and hers the loser. As soon as the
+two Poles had been expelled, Potapitch left the room, and reported to
+the authorities that the men's pockets were full of gold; and, on the
+Grandmother also requesting the head croupier to look into the affair,
+the police made their appearance, and, despite the protests of the
+Poles (who, indeed, had been caught redhanded), their pockets were
+turned inside out, and the contents handed over to the Grandmother. In
+fact, in, view of the circumstance that she lost all day, the croupiers
+and other authorities of the Casino showed her every attention; and on
+her fame spreading through the town, visitors of every
+nationality--even the most knowing of them, the most
+distinguished--crowded to get a glimpse of "la vieille comtesse russe,
+tombee en enfance," who had lost "so many millions."
+
+Yet with the money which the authorities restored to her from the
+pockets of the Poles the Grandmother effected very, very little, for
+there soon arrived to take his countrymen's place, a third Pole--a man
+who could speak Russian fluently, was dressed like a gentleman (albeit
+in lacqueyish fashion), and sported a huge moustache. Though polite
+enough to the old lady, he took a high hand with the bystanders. In
+short, he offered himself less as a servant than as an ENTERTAINER.
+After each round he would turn to the old lady, and swear terrible
+oaths to the effect that he was a "Polish gentleman of honour" who
+would scorn to take a kopeck of her money; and, though he repeated
+these oaths so often that at length she grew alarmed, he had her play
+in hand, and began to win on her behalf; wherefore, she felt that she
+could not well get rid of him. An hour later the two Poles who, earlier
+in the day, had been expelled from the Casino, made a reappearance
+behind the old lady's chair, and renewed their offers of service--even
+if it were only to be sent on messages; but from Potapitch I
+subsequently had it that between these rascals and the said "gentleman
+of honour" there passed a wink, as well as that the latter put
+something into their hands. Next, since the Grandmother had not yet
+lunched--she had scarcely for a moment left her chair--one of the two
+Poles ran to the restaurant of the Casino, and brought her thence a cup
+of soup, and afterwards some tea. In fact, BOTH the Poles hastened to
+perform this office. Finally, towards the close of the day, when it was
+clear that the Grandmother was about to play her last bank-note, there
+could be seen standing behind her chair no fewer than six natives of
+Poland--persons who, as yet, had been neither audible nor visible; and
+as soon as ever the old lady played the note in question, they took no
+further notice of her, but pushed their way past her chair to the
+table; seized the money, and staked it--shouting and disputing the
+while, and arguing with the "gentleman of honour" (who also had
+forgotten the Grandmother's existence), as though he were their equal.
+Even when the Grandmother had lost her all, and was returning (about
+eight o'clock) to the hotel, some three or four Poles could not bring
+themselves to leave her, but went on running beside her chair and
+volubly protesting that the Grandmother had cheated them, and that she
+ought to be made to surrender what was not her own. Thus the party
+arrived at the hotel; whence, presently, the gang of rascals was
+ejected neck and crop.
+
+According to Potapitch's calculations, the Grandmother lost, that day,
+a total of ninety thousand roubles, in addition to the money which she
+had lost the day before. Every paper security which she had brought
+with her--five percent bonds, internal loan scrip, and what not--she
+had changed into cash. Also, I could not but marvel at the way in
+which, for seven or eight hours at a stretch, she sat in that chair of
+hers, almost never leaving the table. Again, Potapitch told me that
+there were three occasions on which she really began to win; but that,
+led on by false hopes, she was unable to tear herself away at the right
+moment. Every gambler knows how a person may sit a day and a night at
+cards without ever casting a glance to right or to left.
+
+Meanwhile, that day some other very important events were passing in
+our hotel. As early as eleven o'clock--that is to say, before the
+Grandmother had quitted her rooms--the General and De Griers decided
+upon their last stroke. In other words, on learning that the old lady
+had changed her mind about departing, and was bent on setting out for
+the Casino again, the whole of our gang (Polina only excepted)
+proceeded en masse to her rooms, for the purpose of finally and frankly
+treating with her. But the General, quaking and greatly apprehensive as
+to his possible future, overdid things. After half an hour's prayers
+and entreaties, coupled with a full confession of his debts, and even
+of his passion for Mlle. Blanche (yes, he had quite lost his head), he
+suddenly adopted a tone of menace, and started to rage at the old
+lady--exclaiming that she was sullying the family honour, that she was
+making a public scandal of herself, and that she was smirching the fair
+name of Russia. The upshot was that the Grandmother turned him out of
+the room with her stick (it was a real stick, too!). Later in the
+morning he held several consultations with De Griers--the question
+which occupied him being: Is it in any way possible to make use of the
+police--to tell them that "this respected, but unfortunate, old lady
+has gone out of her mind, and is squandering her last kopeck," or
+something of the kind? In short, is it in any way possible to engineer
+a species of supervision over, or of restraint upon, the old lady? De
+Griers, however, shrugged his shoulders at this, and laughed in the
+General's face, while the old warrior went on chattering volubly, and
+running up and down his study. Finally De Griers waved his hand, and
+disappeared from view; and by evening it became known that he had left
+the hotel, after holding a very secret and important conference with
+Mlle. Blanche. As for the latter, from early morning she had taken
+decisive measures, by completely excluding the General from her
+presence, and bestowing upon him not a glance. Indeed, even when the
+General pursued her to the Casino, and met her walking arm in arm with
+the Prince, he (the General) received from her and her mother not the
+slightest recognition. Nor did the Prince himself bow. The rest of the
+day Mlle. spent in probing the Prince, and trying to make him declare
+himself; but in this she made a woeful mistake. The little incident
+occurred in the evening. Suddenly Mlle. Blanche realised that the
+Prince had not even a copper to his name, but, on the contrary, was
+minded to borrow of her money wherewith to play at roulette. In high
+displeasure she drove him from her presence, and shut herself up in her
+room.
+
+The same morning I went to see--or, rather, to look for--Mr. Astley,
+but was unsuccessful in my quest. Neither in his rooms nor in the
+Casino nor in the Park was he to be found; nor did he, that day, lunch
+at his hotel as usual. However, at about five o'clock I caught sight of
+him walking from the railway station to the Hotel d'Angleterre. He
+seemed to be in a great hurry and much preoccupied, though in his face
+I could discern no actual traces of worry or perturbation. He held out
+to me a friendly hand, with his usual ejaculation of "Ah!" but did not
+check his stride. I turned and walked beside him, but found, somehow,
+that his answers forbade any putting of definite questions. Moreover, I
+felt reluctant to speak to him of Polina; nor, for his part, did he ask
+me any questions concerning her, although, on my telling him of the
+Grandmother's exploits, he listened attentively and gravely, and then
+shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"She is gambling away everything that she has," I remarked.
+
+"Indeed? She arrived at the Casino even before I had taken my departure
+by train, so I knew she had been playing. If I should have time I will
+go to the Casino to-night, and take a look at her. The thing interests
+me."
+
+"Where have you been today?" I asked--surprised at myself for having,
+as yet, omitted to put to him that question.
+
+"To Frankfort."
+
+"On business?"
+
+"On business."
+
+What more was there to be asked after that? I accompanied him until, as
+we drew level with the Hotel des Quatre Saisons, he suddenly nodded to
+me and disappeared. For myself, I returned home, and came to the
+conclusion that, even had I met him at two o'clock in the afternoon, I
+should have learnt no more from him than I had done at five o'clock,
+for the reason that I had no definite question to ask. It was bound to
+have been so. For me to formulate the query which I really wished to
+put was a simple impossibility.
+
+Polina spent the whole of that day either in walking about the park
+with the nurse and children or in sitting in her own room. For a long
+while past she had avoided the General and had scarcely had a word to
+say to him (scarcely a word, I mean, on any SERIOUS topic). Yes, that I
+had noticed. Still, even though I was aware of the position in which
+the General was placed, it had never occurred to me that he would have
+any reason to avoid HER, or to trouble her with family explanations.
+Indeed, when I was returning to the hotel after my conversation with
+Astley, and chanced to meet Polina and the children, I could see that
+her face was as calm as though the family disturbances had never
+touched her. To my salute she responded with a slight bow, and I
+retired to my room in a very bad humour.
+
+Of course, since the affair with the Burmergelms I had exchanged not a
+word with Polina, nor had with her any kind of intercourse. Yet I had
+been at my wits' end, for, as time went on, there was arising in me an
+ever-seething dissatisfaction. Even if she did not love me she ought
+not to have trampled upon my feelings, nor to have accepted my
+confessions with such contempt, seeing that she must have been aware
+that I loved her (of her own accord she had allowed me to tell her as
+much). Of course the situation between us had arisen in a curious
+manner. About two months ago, I had noticed that she had a desire to
+make me her friend, her confidant--that she was making trial of me for
+the purpose; but, for some reason or another, the desired result had
+never come about, and we had fallen into the present strange relations,
+which had led me to address her as I had done. At the same time, if my
+love was distasteful to her, why had she not FORBIDDEN me to speak of
+it to her?
+
+But she had not so forbidden me. On the contrary, there had been
+occasions when she had even INVITED me to speak. Of course, this might
+have been done out of sheer wantonness, for I well knew--I had remarked
+it only too often--that, after listening to what I had to say, and
+angering me almost beyond endurance, she loved suddenly to torture me
+with some fresh outburst of contempt and aloofness! Yet she must have
+known that I could not live without her. Three days had elapsed since
+the affair with the Baron, and I could bear the severance no longer.
+When, that afternoon, I met her near the Casino, my heart almost made
+me faint, it beat so violently. She too could not live without me, for
+had she not said that she had NEED of me? Or had that too been spoken
+in jest?
+
+That she had a secret of some kind there could be no doubt. What she
+had said to the Grandmother had stabbed me to the heart. On a thousand
+occasions I had challenged her to be open with me, nor could she have
+been ignorant that I was ready to give my very life for her. Yet always
+she had kept me at a distance with that contemptuous air of hers; or
+else she had demanded of me, in lieu of the life which I offered to lay
+at her feet, such escapades as I had perpetrated with the Baron. Ah,
+was it not torture to me, all this? For could it be that her whole
+world was bound up with the Frenchman? What, too, about Mr. Astley? The
+affair was inexplicable throughout. My God, what distress it caused me!
+
+Arrived home, I, in a fit of frenzy, indited the following:
+
+"Polina Alexandrovna, I can see that there is approaching us an
+exposure which will involve you too. For the last time I ask of
+you--have you, or have you not, any need of my life? If you have, then
+make such dispositions as you wish, and I shall always be discoverable
+in my room if required. If you have need of my life, write or send for
+me."
+
+I sealed the letter, and dispatched it by the hand of a corridor
+lacquey, with orders to hand it to the addressee in person. Though I
+expected no answer, scarcely three minutes had elapsed before the
+lacquey returned with "the compliments of a certain person."
+
+Next, about seven o'clock, I was sent for by the General. I found him
+in his study, apparently preparing to go out again, for his hat and
+stick were lying on the sofa. When I entered he was standing in the
+middle of the room--his feet wide apart, and his head bent down. Also,
+he appeared to be talking to himself. But as soon as ever he saw me at
+the door he came towards me in such a curious manner that involuntarily
+I retreated a step, and was for leaving the room; whereupon he seized
+me by both hands, and, drawing me towards the sofa, and seating himself
+thereon, he forced me to sit down on a chair opposite him. Then,
+without letting go of my hands, he exclaimed with quivering lips and a
+sparkle of tears on his eyelashes:
+
+"Oh, Alexis Ivanovitch! Save me, save me! Have some mercy upon me!"
+
+For a long time I could not make out what he meant, although he kept
+talking and talking, and constantly repeating to himself, "Have mercy,
+mercy!" At length, however, I divined that he was expecting me to give
+him something in the nature of advice--or, rather, that, deserted by
+every one, and overwhelmed with grief and apprehension, he had
+bethought himself of my existence, and sent for me to relieve his
+feelings by talking and talking and talking.
+
+In fact, he was in such a confused and despondent state of mind that,
+clasping his hands together, he actually went down upon his knees and
+begged me to go to Mlle. Blanche, and beseech and advise her to return
+to him, and to accept him in marriage.
+
+"But, General," I exclaimed, "possibly Mlle. Blanche has scarcely even
+remarked my existence? What could I do with her?"
+
+It was in vain that I protested, for he could understand nothing that
+was said to him, Next he started talking about the Grandmother, but
+always in a disconnected sort of fashion--his one thought being to send
+for the police.
+
+"In Russia," said he, suddenly boiling over with indignation, "or in
+any well-ordered State where there exists a government, old women like
+my mother are placed under proper guardianship. Yes, my good sir," he
+went on, relapsing into a scolding tone as he leapt to his feet and
+started to pace the room, "do you not know this" (he seemed to be
+addressing some imaginary auditor in the corner) "--do you not know
+this, that in Russia old women like her are subjected to restraint, the
+devil take them?" Again he threw himself down upon the sofa.
+
+A minute later, though sobbing and almost breathless, he managed to
+gasp out that Mlle. Blanche had refused to marry him, for the reason
+that the Grandmother had turned up in place of a telegram, and it was
+therefore clear that he had no inheritance to look for. Evidently, he
+supposed that I had hitherto been in entire ignorance of all this.
+Again, when I referred to De Griers, the General made a gesture of
+despair. "He has gone away," he said, "and everything which I possess
+is mortgaged to him. I stand stripped to my skin. Even of the money
+which you brought me from Paris, I know not if seven hundred francs be
+left. Of course that sum will do to go on with, but, as regards the
+future, I know nothing, I know nothing."
+
+"Then how will you pay your hotel bill?" I cried in consternation. "And
+what shall you do afterwards?"
+
+He looked at me vaguely, but it was clear that he had not
+understood--perhaps had not even heard--my questions. Then I tried to
+get him to speak of Polina and the children, but he only returned brief
+answers of "Yes, yes," and again started to maunder about the Prince,
+and the likelihood of the latter marrying Mlle. Blanche. "What on earth
+am I to do?" he concluded. "What on earth am I to do? Is this not
+ingratitude? Is it not sheer ingratitude?" And he burst into tears.
+
+Nothing could be done with such a man. Yet to leave him alone was
+dangerous, for something might happen to him. I withdrew from his rooms
+for a little while, but warned the nursemaid to keep an eye upon him,
+as well as exchanged a word with the corridor lacquey (a very talkative
+fellow), who likewise promised to remain on the look-out.
+
+Hardly had I left the General, when Potapitch approached me with a
+summons from the Grandmother. It was now eight o'clock, and she had
+returned from the Casino after finally losing all that she possessed. I
+found her sitting in her chair--much distressed and evidently fatigued.
+Presently Martha brought her up a cup of tea and forced her to drink
+it; yet, even then I could detect in the old lady's tone and manner a
+great change.
+
+"Good evening, Alexis Ivanovitch," she said slowly, with her head
+drooping. "Pardon me for disturbing you again. Yes, you must pardon an
+old, old woman like myself, for I have left behind me all that I
+possess--nearly a hundred thousand roubles! You did quite right in
+declining to come with me this evening. Now I am without money--without
+a single groat. But I must not delay a moment; I must leave by the 9:30
+train. I have sent for that English friend of yours, and am going to
+beg of him three thousand francs for a week. Please try and persuade
+him to think nothing of it, nor yet to refuse me, for I am still a rich
+woman who possesses three villages and a couple of mansions. Yes, the
+money shall be found, for I have not yet squandered EVERYTHING. I tell
+you this in order that he may have no doubts about--Ah, but here he is!
+Clearly he is a good fellow."
+
+True enough, Astley had come hot-foot on receiving the Grandmother's
+appeal. Scarcely stopping even to reflect, and with scarcely a word, he
+counted out the three thousand francs under a note of hand which she
+duly signed. Then, his business done, he bowed, and lost no time in
+taking his departure.
+
+"You too leave me, Alexis Ivanovitch," said the Grandmother. "All my
+bones are aching, and I still have an hour in which to rest. Do not be
+hard upon me, old fool that I am. Never again shall I blame young
+people for being frivolous. I should think it wrong even to blame that
+unhappy General of yours. Nevertheless, I do not mean to let him have
+any of my money (which is all that he desires), for the reason that I
+look upon him as a perfect blockhead, and consider myself, simpleton
+though I be, at least wiser than HE is. How surely does God visit old
+age, and punish it for its presumption! Well, good-bye. Martha, come
+and lift me up."
+
+However, I had a mind to see the old lady off; and, moreover, I was in
+an expectant frame of mind--somehow I kept thinking that SOMETHING was
+going to happen; wherefore, I could not rest quietly in my room, but
+stepped out into the corridor, and then into the Chestnut Avenue for a
+few minutes' stroll. My letter to Polina had been clear and firm, and
+in the present crisis, I felt sure, would prove final. I had heard of
+De Griers' departure, and, however much Polina might reject me as a
+FRIEND, she might not reject me altogether as a SERVANT. She would need
+me to fetch and carry for her, and I was ready to do so. How could it
+have been otherwise?
+
+Towards the hour of the train's departure I hastened to the station,
+and put the Grandmother into her compartment--she and her party
+occupying a reserved family saloon.
+
+"Thanks for your disinterested assistance," she said at parting. "Oh,
+and please remind Prascovia of what I said to her last night. I expect
+soon to see her."
+
+Then I returned home. As I was passing the door of the General's suite,
+I met the nursemaid, and inquired after her master. "There is nothing
+new to report, sir," she replied quietly. Nevertheless I decided to
+enter, and was just doing so when I halted thunderstruck on the
+threshold. For before me I beheld the General and Mlle.
+Blanche--laughing gaily at one another!--while beside them, on the
+sofa, there was seated her mother. Clearly the General was almost out
+of his mind with joy, for he was talking all sorts of nonsense, and
+bubbling over with a long-drawn, nervous laugh--a laugh which twisted
+his face into innumerable wrinkles, and caused his eyes almost to
+disappear.
+
+Afterwards I learnt from Mlle. Blanche herself that, after dismissing
+the Prince and hearing of the General's tears, she bethought her of
+going to comfort the old man, and had just arrived for the purpose when
+I entered. Fortunately, the poor General did not know that his fate had
+been decided--that Mlle. had long ago packed her trunks in readiness
+for the first morning train to Paris!
+
+Hesitating a moment on the threshold I changed my mind as to entering,
+and departed unnoticed. Ascending to my own room, and opening the door,
+I perceived in the semi-darkness a figure seated on a chair in the
+corner by the window. The figure did not rise when I entered, so I
+approached it swiftly, peered at it closely, and felt my heart almost
+stop beating. The figure was Polina!
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+The shock made me utter an exclamation.
+
+"What is the matter? What is the matter?" she asked in a strange voice.
+She was looking pale, and her eyes were dim.
+
+"What is the matter?" I re-echoed. "Why, the fact that you are HERE!"
+
+"If I am here, I have come with all that I have to bring," she said.
+"Such has always been my way, as you shall presently see. Please light
+a candle."
+
+I did so; whereupon she rose, approached the table, and laid upon it an
+open letter.
+
+"Read it," she added.
+
+"It is De Griers' handwriting!" I cried as I seized the document. My
+hands were so tremulous that the lines on the pages danced before my
+eyes. Although, at this distance of time, I have forgotten the exact
+phraseology of the missive, I append, if not the precise words, at all
+events the general sense.
+
+"Mademoiselle," the document ran, "certain untoward circumstances
+compel me to depart in haste. Of course, you have of yourself remarked
+that hitherto I have always refrained from having any final explanation
+with you, for the reason that I could not well state the whole
+circumstances; and now to my difficulties the advent of the aged
+Grandmother, coupled with her subsequent proceedings, has put the final
+touch. Also, the involved state of my affairs forbids me to write with
+any finality concerning those hopes of ultimate bliss upon which, for a
+long while past, I have permitted myself to feed. I regret the past,
+but at the same time hope that in my conduct you have never been able
+to detect anything that was unworthy of a gentleman and a man of
+honour. Having lost, however, almost the whole of my money in debts
+incurred by your stepfather, I find myself driven to the necessity of
+saving the remainder; wherefore, I have instructed certain friends of
+mine in St. Petersburg to arrange for the sale of all the property
+which has been mortgaged to myself. At the same time, knowing that, in
+addition, your frivolous stepfather has squandered money which is
+exclusively yours, I have decided to absolve him from a certain moiety
+of the mortgages on his property, in order that you may be in a
+position to recover of him what you have lost, by suing him in legal
+fashion. I trust, therefore, that, as matters now stand, this action of
+mine may bring you some advantage. I trust also that this same action
+leaves me in the position of having fulfilled every obligation which is
+incumbent upon a man of honour and refinement. Rest assured that your
+memory will for ever remain graven in my heart."
+
+"All this is clear enough," I commented. "Surely you did not expect
+aught else from him?" Somehow I was feeling annoyed.
+
+"I expected nothing at all from him," she replied--quietly enough, to
+all outward seeming, yet with a note of irritation in her tone. "Long
+ago I made up my mind on the subject, for I could read his thoughts,
+and knew what he was thinking. He thought that possibly I should sue
+him--that one day I might become a nuisance." Here Polina halted for a
+moment, and stood biting her lips. "So of set purpose I redoubled my
+contemptuous treatment of him, and waited to see what he would do. If a
+telegram to say that we had become legatees had arrived from, St.
+Petersburg, I should have flung at him a quittance for my foolish
+stepfather's debts, and then dismissed him. For a long time I have
+hated him. Even in earlier days he was not a man; and now!--Oh, how
+gladly I could throw those fifty thousand roubles in his face, and spit
+in it, and then rub the spittle in!"
+
+"But the document returning the fifty-thousand rouble mortgage--has the
+General got it? If so, possess yourself of it, and send it to De
+Griers."
+
+"No, no; the General has not got it."
+
+"Just as I expected! Well, what is the General going to do?" Then an
+idea suddenly occurred to me. "What about the Grandmother?" I asked.
+
+Polina looked at me with impatience and bewilderment.
+
+"What makes you speak of HER?" was her irritable inquiry. "I cannot go
+and live with her. Nor," she added hotly, "will I go down upon my knees
+to ANY ONE."
+
+"Why should you?" I cried. "Yet to think that you should have loved De
+Griers! The villain, the villain! But I will kill him in a duel. Where
+is he now?"
+
+"In Frankfort, where he will be staying for the next three days."
+
+"Well, bid me do so, and I will go to him by the first train tomorrow,"
+I exclaimed with enthusiasm.
+
+She smiled.
+
+"If you were to do that," she said, "he would merely tell you to be so
+good as first to return him the fifty thousand francs. What, then,
+would be the use of having a quarrel with him? You talk sheer nonsense."
+
+I ground my teeth.
+
+"The question," I went on, "is how to raise the fifty thousand francs.
+We cannot expect to find them lying about on the floor. Listen. What of
+Mr. Astley?" Even as I spoke a new and strange idea formed itself in my
+brain.
+
+Her eyes flashed fire.
+
+"What? YOU YOURSELF wish me to leave you for him?" she cried with a
+scornful look and a proud smile. Never before had she addressed me thus.
+
+Then her head must have turned dizzy with emotion, for suddenly she
+seated herself upon the sofa, as though she were powerless any longer
+to stand.
+
+A flash of lightning seemed to strike me as I stood there. I could
+scarcely believe my eyes or my ears. She DID love me, then! It WAS to
+me, and not to Mr. Astley, that she had turned! Although she, an
+unprotected girl, had come to me in my room--in an hotel room--and had
+probably compromised herself thereby, I had not understood!
+
+Then a second mad idea flashed into my brain.
+
+"Polina," I said, "give me but an hour. Wait here just one hour until I
+return. Yes, you MUST do so. Do you not see what I mean? Just stay here
+for that time."
+
+And I rushed from the room without so much as answering her look of
+inquiry. She called something after me, but I did not return.
+
+Sometimes it happens that the most insane thought, the most impossible
+conception, will become so fixed in one's head that at length one
+believes the thought or the conception to be reality. Moreover, if with
+the thought or the conception there is combined a strong, a passionate,
+desire, one will come to look upon the said thought or conception as
+something fated, inevitable, and foreordained--something bound to
+happen. Whether by this there is connoted something in the nature of a
+combination of presentiments, or a great effort of will, or a
+self-annulment of one's true expectations, and so on, I do not know;
+but, at all events that night saw happen to me (a night which I shall
+never forget) something in the nature of the miraculous. Although the
+occurrence can easily be explained by arithmetic, I still believe it to
+have been a miracle. Yet why did this conviction take such a hold upon
+me at the time, and remain with me ever since? Previously, I had
+thought of the idea, not as an occurrence which was ever likely to come
+about, but as something which NEVER could come about.
+
+The time was a quarter past eleven o'clock when I entered the Casino in
+such a state of hope (though, at the same time, of agitation) as I had
+never before experienced. In the gaming-rooms there were still a large
+number of people, but not half as many as had been present in the
+morning.
+
+At eleven o'clock there usually remained behind only the real, the
+desperate gamblers--persons for whom, at spas, there existed nothing
+beyond roulette, and who went thither for that alone. These gamesters
+took little note of what was going on around them, and were interested
+in none of the appurtenances of the season, but played from morning
+till night, and would have been ready to play through the night until
+dawn had that been possible. As it was, they used to disperse
+unwillingly when, at midnight, roulette came to an end. Likewise, as
+soon as ever roulette was drawing to a close and the head croupier had
+called "Les trois derniers coups," most of them were ready to stake on
+the last three rounds all that they had in their pockets--and, for the
+most part, lost it. For my own part I proceeded towards the table at
+which the Grandmother had lately sat; and, since the crowd around it
+was not very large, I soon obtained standing room among the ring of
+gamblers, while directly in front of me, on the green cloth, I saw
+marked the word "Passe."
+
+"Passe" was a row of numbers from 19 to 36 inclusive; while a row of
+numbers from 1 to 18 inclusive was known as "Manque." But what had that
+to do with me? I had not noticed--I had not so much as heard the
+numbers upon which the previous coup had fallen, and so took no
+bearings when I began to play, as, in my place, any SYSTEMATIC gambler
+would have done. No, I merely extended my stock of twenty ten-gulden
+pieces, and threw them down upon the space "Passe" which happened to be
+confronting me.
+
+"Vingt-deux!" called the croupier.
+
+I had won! I staked upon the same again--both my original stake and my
+winnings.
+
+"Trente-et-un!" called the croupier.
+
+Again I had won, and was now in possession of eighty ten-gulden pieces.
+Next, I moved the whole eighty on to twelve middle numbers (a stake
+which, if successful, would bring me in a triple profit, but also
+involved a risk of two chances to one). The wheel revolved, and stopped
+at twenty-four. Upon this I was paid out notes and gold until I had by
+my side a total sum of two thousand gulden.
+
+It was as in a fever that I moved the pile, en bloc, on to the red.
+Then suddenly I came to myself (though that was the only time during
+the evening's play when fear cast its cold spell over me, and showed
+itself in a trembling of the hands and knees). For with horror I had
+realised that I MUST win, and that upon that stake there depended all
+my life.
+
+"Rouge!" called the croupier. I drew a long breath, and hot shivers
+went coursing over my body. I was paid out my winnings in
+bank-notes--amounting, of course, to a total of four thousand florins,
+eight hundred gulden (I could still calculate the amounts).
+
+After that, I remember, I again staked two thousand florins upon twelve
+middle numbers, and lost. Again I staked the whole of my gold, with
+eight hundred gulden, in notes, and lost. Then madness seemed to come
+upon me, and seizing my last two thousand florins, I staked them upon
+twelve of the first numbers--wholly by chance, and at random, and
+without any sort of reckoning. Upon my doing so there followed a moment
+of suspense only comparable to that which Madame Blanchard must have
+experienced when, in Paris, she was descending earthwards from a
+balloon.
+
+"Quatre!" called the croupier.
+
+Once more, with the addition of my original stake, I was in possession
+of six thousand florins! Once more I looked around me like a
+conqueror--once more I feared nothing as I threw down four thousand of
+these florins upon the black. The croupiers glanced around them, and
+exchanged a few words; the bystanders murmured expectantly.
+
+The black turned up. After that I do not exactly remember either my
+calculations or the order of my stakings. I only remember that, as in a
+dream, I won in one round sixteen thousand florins; that in the three
+following rounds, I lost twelve thousand; that I moved the remainder
+(four thousand) on to "Passe" (though quite unconscious of what I was
+doing--I was merely waiting, as it were, mechanically, and without
+reflection, for something) and won; and that, finally, four times in
+succession I lost. Yes, I can remember raking in money by
+thousands--but most frequently on the twelve, middle numbers, to which
+I constantly adhered, and which kept appearing in a sort of regular
+order--first, three or four times running, and then, after an interval
+of a couple of rounds, in another break of three or four appearances.
+Sometimes, this astonishing regularity manifested itself in patches; a
+thing to upset all the calculations of note--taking gamblers who play
+with a pencil and a memorandum book in their hands Fortune perpetrates
+some terrible jests at roulette!
+
+Since my entry not more than half an hour could have elapsed. Suddenly
+a croupier informed me that I had, won thirty thousand florins, as well
+as that, since the latter was the limit for which, at any one time, the
+bank could make itself responsible, roulette at that table must close
+for the night. Accordingly, I caught up my pile of gold, stuffed it
+into my pocket, and, grasping my sheaf of bank-notes, moved to the
+table in an adjoining salon where a second game of roulette was in
+progress. The crowd followed me in a body, and cleared a place for me
+at the table; after which, I proceeded to stake as before--that is to
+say, at random and without calculating. What saved me from ruin I do
+not know.
+
+Of course there were times when fragmentary reckonings DID come
+flashing into my brain. For instance, there were times when I attached
+myself for a while to certain figures and coups--though always leaving
+them, again before long, without knowing what I was doing.
+
+In fact, I cannot have been in possession of all my faculties, for I
+can remember the croupiers correcting my play more than once, owing to
+my having made mistakes of the gravest order. My brows were damp with
+sweat, and my hands were shaking. Also, Poles came around me to proffer
+their services, but I heeded none of them. Nor did my luck fail me now.
+Suddenly, there arose around me a loud din of talking and laughter.
+"Bravo, bravo!" was the general shout, and some people even clapped
+their hands. I had raked in thirty thousand florins, and again the bank
+had had to close for the night!
+
+"Go away now, go away now," a voice whispered to me on my right. The
+person who had spoken to me was a certain Jew of Frankfurt--a man who
+had been standing beside me the whole while, and occasionally helping
+me in my play.
+
+"Yes, for God's sake go," whispered a second voice in my left ear.
+Glancing around, I perceived that the second voice had come from a
+modestly, plainly dressed lady of rather less than thirty--a woman
+whose face, though pale and sickly-looking, bore also very evident
+traces of former beauty. At the moment, I was stuffing the crumpled
+bank-notes into my pockets and collecting all the gold that was left on
+the table. Seizing up my last note for five hundred gulden, I contrived
+to insinuate it, unperceived, into the hand of the pale lady. An
+overpowering impulse had made me do so, and I remember how her thin
+little fingers pressed mine in token of her lively gratitude. The whole
+affair was the work of a moment.
+
+Then, collecting my belongings, I crossed to where trente et quarante
+was being played--a game which could boast of a more aristocratic
+public, and was played with cards instead of with a wheel. At this
+diversion the bank made itself responsible for a hundred thousand
+thalers as the limit, but the highest stake allowable was, as in
+roulette, four thousand florins. Although I knew nothing of the
+game--and I scarcely knew the stakes, except those on black and red--I
+joined the ring of players, while the rest of the crowd massed itself
+around me. At this distance of time I cannot remember whether I ever
+gave a thought to Polina; I seemed only to be conscious of a vague
+pleasure in seizing and raking in the bank-notes which kept massing
+themselves in a pile before me.
+
+But, as ever, fortune seemed to be at my back. As though of set
+purpose, there came to my aid a circumstance which not infrequently
+repeats itself in gaming. The circumstance is that not infrequently
+luck attaches itself to, say, the red, and does not leave it for a
+space of say, ten, or even fifteen, rounds in succession. Three days
+ago I had heard that, during the previous week there had been a run of
+twenty-two coups on the red--an occurrence never before known at
+roulette--so that men spoke of it with astonishment. Naturally enough,
+many deserted the red after a dozen rounds, and practically no one
+could now be found to stake upon it. Yet upon the black also--the
+antithesis of the red--no experienced gambler would stake anything, for
+the reason that every practised player knows the meaning of "capricious
+fortune." That is to say, after the sixteenth (or so) success of the
+red, one would think that the seventeenth coup would inevitably fall
+upon the black; wherefore, novices would be apt to back the latter in
+the seventeenth round, and even to double or treble their stakes upon
+it--only, in the end, to lose.
+
+Yet some whim or other led me, on remarking that the red had come up
+consecutively for seven times, to attach myself to that colour.
+Probably this was mostly due to self-conceit, for I wanted to astonish
+the bystanders with the riskiness of my play. Also, I remember
+that--oh, strange sensation!--I suddenly, and without any challenge
+from my own presumption, became obsessed with a DESIRE to take risks.
+If the spirit has passed through a great many sensations, possibly it
+can no longer be sated with them, but grows more excited, and demands
+more sensations, and stronger and stronger ones, until at length it
+falls exhausted. Certainly, if the rules of the game had permitted even
+of my staking fifty thousand florins at a time, I should have staked
+them. All of a sudden I heard exclamations arising that the whole thing
+was a marvel, since the red was turning up for the fourteenth time!
+
+"Monsieur a gagne cent mille florins," a voice exclaimed beside me.
+
+I awoke to my senses. What? I had won a hundred thousand florins? If
+so, what more did I need to win? I grasped the banknotes, stuffed them
+into my pockets, raked in the gold without counting it, and started to
+leave the Casino. As I passed through the salons people smiled to see
+my bulging pockets and unsteady gait, for the weight which I was
+carrying must have amounted to half a pood! Several hands I saw
+stretched out in my direction, and as I passed I filled them with all
+the money that I could grasp in my own. At length two Jews stopped me
+near the exit.
+
+"You are a bold young fellow," one said, "but mind you depart early
+tomorrow--as early as you can--for if you do not you will lose
+everything that you have won."
+
+But I did not heed them. The Avenue was so dark that it was barely
+possible to distinguish one's hand before one's face, while the
+distance to the hotel was half a verst or so; but I feared neither
+pickpockets nor highwaymen. Indeed, never since my boyhood have I done
+that. Also, I cannot remember what I thought about on the way. I only
+felt a sort of fearful pleasure--the pleasure of success, of conquest,
+of power (how can I best express it?). Likewise, before me there
+flitted the image of Polina; and I kept remembering, and reminding
+myself, that it was to HER I was going, that it was in HER presence I
+should soon be standing, that it was SHE to whom I should soon be able
+to relate and show everything. Scarcely once did I recall what she had
+lately said to me, or the reason why I had left her, or all those
+varied sensations which I had been experiencing a bare hour and a half
+ago. No, those sensations seemed to be things of the past, to be things
+which had righted themselves and grown old, to be things concerning
+which we needed to trouble ourselves no longer, since, for us, life was
+about to begin anew. Yet I had just reached the end of the Avenue when
+there DID come upon me a fear of being robbed or murdered. With each
+step the fear increased until, in my terror, I almost started to run.
+Suddenly, as I issued from the Avenue, there burst upon me the lights
+of the hotel, sparkling with a myriad lamps! Yes, thanks be to God, I
+had reached home!
+
+Running up to my room, I flung open the door of it.  Polina was still
+on the sofa, with a lighted candle in front of her, and her hands
+clasped. As I entered she stared at me in astonishment (for, at the
+moment, I must have presented a strange spectacle). All I did, however,
+was to halt before her, and fling upon the table my burden of wealth.
+
+
+
+XV
+
+I remember, too, how, without moving from her place, or changing her
+attitude, she gazed into my face.
+
+"I have won two hundred thousand francs!" cried I as I pulled out my
+last sheaf of bank-notes. The pile of paper currency occupied the whole
+table. I could not withdraw my eyes from it. Consequently, for a moment
+or two Polina escaped my mind. Then I set myself to arrange the pile in
+order, and to sort the notes, and to mass the gold in a separate heap.
+That done, I left everything where it lay, and proceeded to pace the
+room with rapid strides as I lost myself in thought. Then I darted to
+the table once more, and began to recount the money; until all of a
+sudden, as though I had remembered something, I rushed to the door, and
+closed and double-locked it. Finally I came to a meditative halt before
+my little trunk.
+
+"Shall I put the money there until tomorrow?" I asked, turning sharply
+round to Polina as the recollection of her returned to me.
+
+She was still in her old place--still making not a sound. Yet her eyes
+had followed every one of my movements. Somehow in her face there was a
+strange expression--an expression which I did not like. I think that I
+shall not be wrong if I say that it indicated sheer hatred.
+
+Impulsively I approached her.
+
+"Polina," I said, "here are twenty-five thousand florins--fifty
+thousand francs, or more. Take them, and tomorrow throw them in De
+Griers' face."
+
+She returned no answer.
+
+"Or, if you should prefer," I continued, "let me take them to him
+myself tomorrow--yes, early tomorrow morning. Shall I?"
+
+Then all at once she burst out laughing, and laughed for a long while.
+With astonishment and a feeling of offence I gazed at her. Her laughter
+was too like the derisive merriment which she had so often indulged in
+of late--merriment which had broken forth always at the time of my most
+passionate explanations. At length she ceased, and frowned at me from
+under her eyebrows.
+
+"I am NOT going to take your money," she said contemptuously.
+
+"Why not?" I cried. "Why not, Polina?"
+
+"Because I am not in the habit of receiving money for nothing."
+
+"But I am offering it to you as a FRIEND in the same way I would offer
+you my very life."
+
+Upon this she threw me a long, questioning glance, as though she were
+seeking to probe me to the depths.
+
+"You are giving too much for me," she remarked with a smile. "The
+beloved of De Griers is not worth fifty thousand francs."
+
+"Oh Polina, how can you speak so?" I exclaimed reproachfully. "Am I De
+Griers?"
+
+"You?" she cried with her eyes suddenly flashing. "Why, I HATE you!
+Yes, yes, I HATE you! I love you no more than I do De Griers."
+
+Then she buried her face in her hands, and relapsed into hysterics. I
+darted to her side. Somehow I had an intuition of something having
+happened to her which had nothing to do with myself. She was like a
+person temporarily insane.
+
+"Buy me, would you, would you? Would you buy me for fifty thousand
+francs as De Griers did?" she gasped between her convulsive sobs.
+
+I clasped her in my arms, kissed her hands and feet, and fell upon my
+knees before her.
+
+Presently the hysterical fit passed away, and, laying her hands upon my
+shoulders, she gazed for a while into my face, as though trying to read
+it--something I said to her, but it was clear that she did not hear it.
+Her face looked so dark and despondent that I began to fear for her
+reason. At length she drew me towards herself--a trustful smile playing
+over her features; and then, as suddenly, she pushed me away again as
+she eyed me dimly.
+
+Finally she threw herself upon me in an embrace.
+
+"You love me?" she said. "DO you?--you who were willing even to quarrel
+with the Baron at my bidding?"
+
+Then she laughed--laughed as though something dear, but laughable, had
+recurred to her memory. Yes, she laughed and wept at the same time.
+What was I to do? I was like a man in a fever. I remember that she
+began to say something to me--though WHAT I do not know, since she
+spoke with a feverish lisp, as though she were trying to tell me
+something very quickly. At intervals, too, she would break off into the
+smile which I was beginning to dread. "No, no!" she kept repeating.
+"YOU are my dear one; YOU are the man I trust." Again she laid her
+hands upon my shoulders, and again she gazed at me as she reiterated:
+"You love me, you love me? Will you ALWAYS love me?" I could not take
+my eyes off her. Never before had I seen her in this mood of humility
+and affection. True, the mood was the outcome of hysteria; but--! All
+of a sudden she noticed my ardent gaze, and smiled slightly. The next
+moment, for no apparent reason, she began to talk of Astley.
+
+She continued talking and talking about him, but I could not make out
+all she said--more particularly when she was endeavouring to tell me of
+something or other which had happened recently. On the whole, she
+appeared to be laughing at Astley, for she kept repeating that he was
+waiting for her, and did I know whether, even at that moment, he was
+not standing beneath the window? "Yes, yes, he is there," she said.
+"Open the window, and see if he is not." She pushed me in that
+direction; yet, no sooner did I make a movement to obey her behest than
+she burst into laughter, and I remained beside her, and she embraced me.
+
+"Shall we go away tomorrow?" presently she asked, as though some
+disturbing thought had recurred to her recollection. "How would it be
+if we were to try and overtake Grandmamma? I think we should do so at
+Berlin. And what think you she would have to say to us when we caught
+her up, and her eyes first lit upon us? What, too, about Mr. Astley? HE
+would not leap from the Shlangenberg for my sake! No! Of that I am very
+sure!"--and she laughed. "Do you know where he is going next year? He
+says he intends to go to the North Pole for scientific investigations,
+and has invited me to go with him! Ha, ha, ha! He also says that we
+Russians know nothing, can do nothing, without European help. But he is
+a good fellow all the same. For instance, he does not blame the General
+in the matter, but declares that Mlle. Blanche--that love--But no; I do
+not know, I do not know." She stopped suddenly, as though she had said
+her say, and was feeling bewildered. "What poor creatures these people
+are. How sorry I am for them, and for Grandmamma! But when are you
+going to kill De Griers? Surely you do not intend actually to murder
+him? You fool! Do you suppose that I should ALLOW you to fight De
+Griers? Nor shall you kill the Baron." Here she burst out laughing.
+"How absurd you looked when you were talking to the Burmergelms! I was
+watching you all the time--watching you from where I was sitting. And
+how unwilling you were to go when I sent you! Oh, how I laughed and
+laughed!"
+
+Then she kissed and embraced me again; again she pressed her face to
+mine with tender passion. Yet I neither saw nor heard her, for my head
+was in a whirl....
+
+It must have been about seven o'clock in the morning when I awoke.
+Daylight had come, and Polina was sitting by my side--a strange
+expression on her face, as though she had seen a vision and was unable
+to collect her thoughts. She too had just awoken, and was now staring
+at the money on the table. My head ached; it felt heavy. I attempted to
+take Polina's hand, but she pushed me from her, and leapt from the
+sofa. The dawn was full of mist, for rain had fallen, yet she moved to
+the window, opened it, and, leaning her elbows upon the window-sill,
+thrust out her head and shoulders to take the air. In this position did
+she remain for several minutes, without ever looking round at me, or
+listening to what I was saying. Into my head there came the uneasy
+thought: What is to happen now? How is it all to end? Suddenly Polina
+rose from the window, approached the table, and, looking at me with an
+expression of infinite aversion, said with lips which quivered with
+anger:
+
+"Well? Are you going to hand me over my fifty thousand francs?"
+
+"Polina, you say that AGAIN, AGAIN?" I exclaimed.
+
+"You have changed your mind, then? Ha, ha, ha! You are sorry you ever
+promised them?"
+
+On the table where, the previous night, I had counted the money there
+still was lying the packet of twenty five thousand florins. I handed it
+to her.
+
+"The francs are mine, then, are they? They are mine?" she inquired
+viciously as she balanced the money in her hands.
+
+"Yes; they have ALWAYS been yours," I said.
+
+"Then TAKE your fifty thousand francs!" and she hurled them full in my
+face. The packet burst as she did so, and the floor became strewed with
+bank-notes. The instant that the deed was done she rushed from the room.
+
+At that moment she cannot have been in her right mind; yet, what was
+the cause of her temporary aberration I cannot say. For a month past
+she had been unwell. Yet what had brought about this PRESENT condition
+of mind, above all things, this outburst? Had it come of wounded pride?
+Had it come of despair over her decision to come to me? Had it come of
+the fact that, presuming too much on my good fortune, I had seemed to
+be intending to desert her (even as De Griers had done) when once I had
+given her the fifty thousand francs? But, on my honour, I had never
+cherished any such intention. What was at fault, I think, was her own
+pride, which kept urging her not to trust me, but, rather, to insult
+me--even though she had not realised the fact. In her eyes I
+corresponded to De Griers, and therefore had been condemned for a fault
+not wholly my own. Her mood of late had been a sort of delirium, a sort
+of light-headedness--that I knew full well; yet, never had I
+sufficiently taken it into consideration. Perhaps she would not pardon
+me now? Ah, but this was THE PRESENT. What about the future? Her
+delirium and sickness were not likely to make her forget what she had
+done in bringing me De Griers' letter. No, she must have known what she
+was doing when she brought it.
+
+Somehow I contrived to stuff the pile of notes and gold under the bed,
+to cover them over, and then to leave the room some ten minutes after
+Polina. I felt sure that she had returned to her own room; wherefore, I
+intended quietly to follow her, and to ask the nursemaid aid who opened
+the door how her mistress was. Judge, therefore, of my surprise when,
+meeting the domestic on the stairs, she informed me that Polina had not
+yet returned, and that she (the domestic) was at that moment on her way
+to my room in quest of her!
+
+"Mlle. left me but ten minutes ago," I said. "What can have become of
+her?" The nursemaid looked at me reproachfully.
+
+Already sundry rumours were flying about the hotel. Both in the office
+of the commissionaire and in that of the landlord it was whispered
+that, at seven o'clock that morning, the Fraulein had left the hotel,
+and set off, despite the rain, in the direction of the Hotel
+d'Angleterre. From words and hints let fall I could see that the fact
+of Polina having spent the night in my room was now public property.
+Also, sundry rumours were circulating concerning the General's family
+affairs. It was known that last night he had gone out of his mind, and
+paraded the hotel in tears; also, that the old lady who had arrived was
+his mother, and that she had come from Russia on purpose to forbid her
+son's marriage with Mlle. de Cominges, as well as to cut him out of her
+will if he should disobey her; also that, because he had disobeyed her,
+she had squandered all her money at roulette, in order to have nothing
+more to leave to him. "Oh, these Russians!" exclaimed the landlord,
+with an angry toss of the head, while the bystanders laughed and the
+clerk betook himself to his accounts. Also, every one had learnt about
+my winnings; Karl, the corridor lacquey, was the first to congratulate
+me. But with these folk I had nothing to do. My business was to set off
+at full speed to the Hotel d'Angleterre.
+
+As yet it was early for Mr. Astley to receive visitors; but, as soon as
+he learnt that it was I who had arrived, he came out into the corridor
+to meet me, and stood looking at me in silence with his steel-grey eyes
+as he waited to hear what I had to say. I inquired after Polina.
+
+"She is ill," he replied, still looking at me with his direct,
+unwavering glance.
+
+"And she is in your rooms."
+
+"Yes, she is in my rooms."
+
+"Then you are minded to keep her there?"
+
+"Yes, I am minded to keep her there."
+
+"But, Mr. Astley, that will raise a scandal. It ought not to be
+allowed. Besides, she is very ill. Perhaps you had not remarked that?"
+
+"Yes, I have. It was I who told you about it. Had she not been ill, she
+would not have gone and spent the night with you."
+
+"Then you know all about it?"
+
+"Yes; for last night she was to have accompanied me to the house of a
+relative of mine. Unfortunately, being ill, she made a mistake, and
+went to your rooms instead."
+
+"Indeed? Then I wish you joy, Mr. Astley. Apropos, you have reminded me
+of something. Were you beneath my window last night? Every moment Mlle.
+Polina kept telling me to open the window and see if you were there;
+after which she always smiled."
+
+"Indeed? No, I was not there; but I was waiting in the corridor, and
+walking about the hotel."
+
+"She ought to see a doctor, you know, Mr. Astley."
+
+"Yes, she ought. I have sent for one, and, if she dies, I shall hold
+you responsible."
+
+This surprised me.
+
+"Pardon me," I replied, "but what do you mean?"
+
+"Never mind. Tell me if it is true that, last night, you won two
+hundred thousand thalers?"
+
+"No; I won a hundred thousand florins."
+
+"Good heavens! Then I suppose you will be off to Paris this morning?
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because all Russians who have grown rich go to Paris," explained
+Astley, as though he had read the fact in a book.
+
+"But what could I do in Paris in summer time?--I LOVE her, Mr. Astley!
+Surely you know that?"
+
+"Indeed? I am sure that you do NOT. Moreover, if you were to stay here,
+you would lose everything that you possess, and have nothing left with
+which to pay your expenses in Paris. Well, good-bye now. I feel sure
+that today will see you gone from here."
+
+"Good-bye. But I am NOT going to Paris. Likewise--pardon me--what is to
+become of this family? I mean that the affair of the General and Mlle.
+Polina will soon be all over the town."
+
+"I daresay; yet, I hardly suppose that that will break the General's
+heart. Moreover, Mlle. Polina has a perfect right to live where she
+chooses. In short, we may say that, as a family, this family has ceased
+to exist."
+
+I departed, and found myself smiling at the Englishman's strange
+assurance that I should soon be leaving for Paris. "I suppose he means
+to shoot me in a duel, should Polina die. Yes, that is what he intends
+to do."  Now, although I was honestly sorry for Polina, it is a fact
+that, from the moment when, the previous night, I had approached the
+gaming-table, and begun to rake in the packets of bank-notes, my love
+for her had entered upon a new plane. Yes, I can say that now;
+although, at the time, I was barely conscious of it. Was I, then, at
+heart a gambler? Did I, after all, love Polina not so very much? No,
+no! As God is my witness, I loved her! Even when I was returning home
+from Mr. Astley's my suffering was genuine, and my self-reproach
+sincere. But presently I was to go through an exceedingly strange and
+ugly experience.
+
+I was proceeding to the General's rooms when I heard a door near me
+open, and a voice call me by name. It was Mlle.'s mother, the Widow de
+Cominges who was inviting me, in her daughter's name, to enter.
+
+I did so; whereupon, I heard a laugh and a little cry proceed from the
+bedroom (the pair occupied a suite of two apartments), where Mlle.
+Blanche was just arising.
+
+"Ah, c'est lui! Viens, donc, bete! Is it true that you have won a
+mountain of gold and silver? J'aimerais mieux l'or."
+
+"Yes," I replied with a smile.
+
+"How much?"
+
+"A hundred thousand florins."
+
+"Bibi, comme tu es bete! Come in here, for I can't hear you where you
+are now. Nous ferons bombance, n'est-ce pas?"
+
+Entering her room, I found her lolling under a pink satin coverlet, and
+revealing a pair of swarthy, wonderfully healthy shoulders--shoulders
+such as one sees in dreams--shoulders covered over with a white cambric
+nightgown which, trimmed with lace, stood out, in striking relief,
+against the darkness of her skin.
+
+"Mon fils, as-tu du coeur?" she cried when she saw me, and then
+giggled. Her laugh had always been a very cheerful one, and at times it
+even sounded sincere.
+
+"Tout autre--" I began, paraphrasing Corneille.
+
+"See here," she prattled on. "Please search for my stockings, and help
+me to dress. Aussi, si tu n'es pas trop bete je te prends a Paris. I am
+just off, let me tell you."
+
+"This moment?"
+
+"In half an hour."
+
+True enough, everything stood ready-packed--trunks, portmanteaux, and
+all. Coffee had long been served.
+
+"Eh bien, tu verras Paris. Dis donc, qu'est-ce que c'est qu'un
+'utchitel'? Tu etais bien bete quand tu etais 'utchitel.' Where are my
+stockings? Please help me to dress."
+
+And she lifted up a really ravishing foot--small, swarthy, and not
+misshapen like the majority of feet which look dainty only in bottines.
+I laughed, and started to draw on to the foot a silk stocking, while
+Mlle. Blanche sat on the edge of the bed and chattered.
+
+"Eh bien, que feras-tu si je te prends avec moi? First of all I must
+have fifty thousand francs, and you shall give them to me at Frankfurt.
+Then we will go on to Paris, where we will live together, et je te
+ferai voir des etoiles en plein jour. Yes, you shall see such women as
+your eyes have never lit upon."
+
+"Stop a moment. If I were to give you those fifty thousand francs, what
+should I have left for myself?"
+
+"Another hundred thousand francs, please to remember. Besides, I could
+live with you in your rooms for a month, or even for two; or even for
+longer. But it would not take us more than two months to get through
+fifty thousand francs; for, look you, je suis bonne enfante, et tu
+verras des etoiles, you may be sure."
+
+"What? You mean to say that we should spend the whole in two months?"
+
+"Certainly. Does that surprise you very much? Ah, vil esclave! Why, one
+month of that life would be better than all your previous existence.
+One month--et apres, le deluge! Mais tu ne peux comprendre. Va! Away,
+away! You are not worth it.--Ah, que fais-tu?"
+
+For, while drawing on the other stocking, I had felt constrained to
+kiss her. Immediately she shrunk back, kicked me in the face with her
+toes, and turned me neck and prop out of the room.
+
+"Eh bien, mon 'utchitel'," she called after me, "je t'attends, si tu
+veux. I start in a quarter of an hour's time."
+
+I returned to my own room with my head in a whirl. It was not my fault
+that Polina had thrown a packet in my face, and preferred Mr. Astley to
+myself. A few bank-notes were still fluttering about the floor, and I
+picked them up. At that moment the door opened, and the landlord
+appeared--a person who, until now, had never bestowed upon me so much
+as a glance. He had come to know if I would prefer to move to a lower
+floor--to a suite which had just been tenanted by Count V.
+
+For a moment I reflected.
+
+"No!" I shouted. "My account, please, for in ten minutes I shall be
+gone."
+
+"To Paris, to Paris!" I added to myself. "Every man of birth must make
+her acquaintance."
+
+Within a quarter of an hour all three of us were seated in a family
+compartment--Mlle. Blanche, the Widow de Cominges, and myself. Mlle.
+kept laughing hysterically as she looked at me, and Madame re-echoed
+her; but I did not feel so cheerful. My life had broken in two, and
+yesterday had infected me with a habit of staking my all upon a card.
+Although it might be that I had failed to win my stake, that I had lost
+my senses, that I desired nothing better, I felt that the scene was to
+be changed only FOR A TIME. "Within a month from now," I kept thinking
+to myself, "I shall be back again in Roulettenberg; and THEN I mean to
+have it out with you, Mr. Astley!" Yes, as now I look back at things, I
+remember that I felt greatly depressed, despite the absurd gigglings of
+the egregious Blanche.
+
+"What is the matter with you? How dull you are!" she cried at length as
+she interrupted her laughter to take me seriously to task.
+
+"Come, come! We are going to spend your two hundred thousand francs for
+you, et tu seras heureux comme un petit roi. I myself will tie your tie
+for you, and introduce you to Hortense. And when we have spent your
+money you shall return here, and break the bank again. What did those
+two Jews tell you?--that the thing most needed is daring, and that you
+possess it? Consequently, this is not the first time that you will be
+hurrying to Paris with money in your pocket. Quant ... moi, je veux
+cinquante mille francs de rente, et alors."
+
+"But what about the General?" I interrupted.
+
+"The General? You know well enough that at about this hour every day he
+goes to buy me a bouquet. On this occasion, I took care to tell him
+that he must hunt for the choicest of flowers; and when he returns
+home, the poor fellow will find the bird flown. Possibly he may take
+wing in pursuit--ha, ha, ha! And if so, I shall not be sorry, for he
+could be useful to me in Paris, and Mr. Astley will pay his debts here."
+
+In this manner did I depart for the Gay City.
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+Of Paris what am I to say? The whole proceeding was a delirium, a
+madness. I spent a little over three weeks there, and, during that
+time, saw my hundred thousand francs come to an end. I speak only of
+the ONE hundred thousand francs, for the other hundred thousand I gave
+to Mlle. Blanche in pure cash. That is to say, I handed her fifty
+thousand francs at Frankfurt, and, three days later (in Paris),
+advanced her another fifty thousand on note of hand. Nevertheless, a
+week had not elapsed ere she came to me for more money. "Et les cent
+mille francs qui nous restent," she added, "tu les mangeras avec moi,
+mon utchitel." Yes, she always called me her "utchitel." A person more
+economical, grasping, and mean than Mlle. Blanche one could not
+imagine. But this was only as regards HER OWN money. MY hundred
+thousand francs (as she explained to me later) she needed to set up her
+establishment in Paris, "so that once and for all I may be on a decent
+footing, and proof against any stones which may be thrown at me--at all
+events for a long time to come." Nevertheless, I saw nothing of those
+hundred thousand francs, for my own purse (which she inspected daily)
+never managed to amass in it more than a hundred francs at a time; and,
+generally the sum did not reach even that figure.
+
+"What do you want with money?" she would say to me with air of absolute
+simplicity; and I never disputed the point. Nevertheless, though she
+fitted out her flat very badly with the money, the fact did not prevent
+her from saying when, later, she was showing me over the rooms of her
+new abode:  "See what care and taste can do with the most wretched of
+means!" However, her "wretchedness" had cost fifty thousand francs,
+while with the remaining fifty thousand she purchased a carriage and
+horses.
+
+Also, we gave a couple of balls--evening parties attended by Hortense
+and Lisette and Cleopatre, who were women remarkable both for the
+number of their liaisons and (though only in some cases) for their good
+looks. At these reunions I had to play the part of host--to meet and
+entertain fat mercantile parvenus who were impossible by reason of
+their rudeness and braggadocio, colonels of various kinds, hungry
+authors, and journalistic hacks--all of whom disported themselves in
+fashionable tailcoats and pale yellow gloves, and displayed such an
+aggregate of conceit and gasconade as would be unthinkable even in St.
+Petersburg--which is saying a great deal! They used to try to make fun
+of me, but I would console myself by drinking champagne and then
+lolling in a retiring-room. Nevertheless, I found it deadly work.
+"C'est un utchitel," Blanche would say of me, "qui a gagne deux cent
+mille francs, and but for me, would have had not a notion how to spend
+them. Presently he will have to return to his tutoring. Does any one
+know of a vacant post? You know, one must do something for him."
+
+I had the more frequent recourse to champagne in that I constantly felt
+depressed and bored, owing to the fact that I was living in the most
+bourgeois commercial milieu imaginable--a milieu wherein every sou was
+counted and grudged. Indeed, two weeks had not elapsed before I
+perceived that Blanche had no real affection for me, even though she
+dressed me in elegant clothes, and herself tied my tie each day. In
+short, she utterly despised me. But that caused me no concern. Blase
+and inert, I spent my evenings generally at the Chateau des Fleurs,
+where I would get fuddled and then dance the cancan (which, in that
+establishment, was a very indecent performance) with eclat. At length,
+the time came when Blanche had drained my purse dry. She had conceived
+an idea that, during the term of our residence together, it would be
+well if I were always to walk behind her with a paper and pencil, in
+order to jot down exactly what she spent, what she had saved, what she
+was paying out, and what she was laying by. Well, of course I could not
+fail to be aware that this would entail a battle over every ten francs;
+so, although for every possible objection that I might make she had
+prepared a suitable answer, she soon saw that I made no objections, and
+therefore, had to start disputes herself. That is to say, she would
+burst out into tirades which were met only with silence as I lolled on
+a sofa and stared fixedly at the ceiling. This greatly surprised her.
+At first she imagined that it was due merely to the fact that I was a
+fool, "un utchitel"; wherefore she would break off her harangue in the
+belief that, being too stupid to understand, I was a hopeless case.
+Then she would leave the room, but return ten minutes later to resume
+the contest. This continued throughout her squandering of my money--a
+squandering altogether out of proportion to our means. An example is
+the way in which she changed her first pair of horses for a pair which
+cost sixteen thousand francs.
+
+"Bibi," she said on the latter occasion as she approached me, "surely
+you are not angry?"
+
+"No-o-o: I am merely tired," was my reply as I pushed her from me. This
+seemed to her so curious that straightway she seated herself by my side.
+
+"You see," she went on, "I decided to spend so much upon these horses
+only because I can easily sell them again. They would go at any time
+for TWENTY thousand francs."
+
+"Yes, yes. They are splendid horses, and you have got a splendid
+turn-out. I am quite content. Let me hear no more of the matter."
+
+"Then you are not angry?"
+
+"No. Why should I be? You are wise to provide yourself with what you
+need, for it will all come in handy in the future. Yes, I quite see the
+necessity of your establishing yourself on a good basis, for without it
+you will never earn your million. My hundred thousand francs I look
+upon merely as a beginning--as a mere drop in the bucket."
+
+Blanche, who had by no means expected such declarations from me, but,
+rather, an uproar and protests, was rather taken aback.
+
+"Well, well, what a man you are!" she exclaimed. "Mais tu as l'esprit
+pour comprendre. Sais-tu, mon garcon, although you are a tutor, you
+ought to have been born a prince. Are you not sorry that your money
+should be going so quickly?"
+
+"No. The quicker it goes the better."
+
+"Mais--sais-tu-mais dis donc, are you really rich? Mais sais-tu, you
+have too much contempt for money. Qu'est-ce que tu feras apres, dis
+donc?"
+
+"Apres I shall go to Homburg, and win another hundred thousand francs."
+
+"Oui, oui, c'est ca, c'est magnifique! Ah, I know you will win them,
+and bring them to me when you have done so. Dis donc--you will end by
+making me love you. Since you are what you are, I mean to love you all
+the time, and never to be unfaithful to you. You see, I have not loved
+you before parce que je croyais que tu n'es qu'un utchitel (quelque
+chose comme un lacquais, n'est-ce pas?) Yet all the time I have been
+true to you, parce que je suis bonne fille."
+
+"You lie!" I interrupted. "Did I not see you, the other day, with
+Albert--with that black-jowled officer?"
+
+"Oh, oh! Mais tu es--"
+
+"Yes, you are lying right enough. But what makes you suppose that I
+should be angry? Rubbish! Il faut que jeunesse se passe. Even if that
+officer were here now, I should refrain from putting him out of the
+room if I thought you really cared for him. Only, mind you, do not give
+him any of my money. You hear?"
+
+"You say, do you, that you would not be angry? Mais tu es un vrai
+philosophe, sais-tu? Oui, un vrai philosophe! Eh bien, je t'aimerai, je
+t'aimerai. Tu verras-tu seras content."
+
+True enough, from that time onward she seemed to attach herself only to
+me, and in this manner we spent our last ten days together. The
+promised "etoiles" I did not see, but in other respects she, to a
+certain extent, kept her word. Moreover, she introduced me to Hortense,
+who was a remarkable woman in her way, and known among us as Therese
+Philosophe.
+
+But I need not enlarge further, for to do so would require a story to
+itself, and entail a colouring which I am loth to impart to the present
+narrative. The point is that with all my faculties I desired the
+episode to come to an end as speedily as possible. Unfortunately, our
+hundred thousand francs lasted us, as I have said, for very nearly a
+month--which greatly surprised me. At all events, Blanche bought
+herself articles to the tune of eighty thousand francs, and the rest
+sufficed just to meet our expenses of living. Towards the close of the
+affair, Blanche grew almost frank with me (at least, she scarcely lied
+to me at all)--declaring, amongst other things, that none of the debts
+which she had been obliged to incur were going to fall upon my head. "I
+have purposely refrained from making you responsible for my bills or
+borrowings," she said, "for the reason that I am sorry for you. Any
+other woman in my place would have done so, and have let you go to
+prison. See, then, how much I love you, and how good-hearted I am!
+Think, too, what this accursed marriage with the General is going to
+cost me!"
+
+True enough, the marriage took place. It did so at the close of our
+month together, and I am bound to suppose that it was upon the ceremony
+that the last remnants of my money were spent. With it the
+episode--that is to say, my sojourn with the Frenchwoman--came to an
+end, and I formally retired from the scene.
+
+It happened thus: A week after we had taken up our abode in Paris there
+arrived thither the General. He came straight to see us, and
+thenceforward lived with us practically as our guest, though he had a
+flat of his own as well. Blanche met him with merry badinage and
+laughter, and even threw her arms around him. In fact, she managed it
+so that he had to follow everywhere in her train--whether when
+promenading on the Boulevards, or when driving, or when going to the
+theatre, or when paying calls; and this use which she made of him quite
+satisfied the General. Still of imposing appearance and presence, as
+well as of fair height, he had a dyed moustache and whiskers (he had
+formerly been in the cuirassiers), and a handsome, though a somewhat
+wrinkled, face. Also, his manners were excellent, and he could carry a
+frockcoat well--the more so since, in Paris, he took to wearing his
+orders. To promenade the Boulevards with such a man was not only a
+thing possible, but also, so to speak, a thing advisable, and with this
+programme the good but foolish General had not a fault to find. The
+truth is that he had never counted upon this programme when he came to
+Paris to seek us out. On that occasion he had made his appearance
+nearly shaking with terror, for he had supposed that Blanche would at
+once raise an outcry, and have him put from the door; wherefore, he was
+the more enraptured at the turn that things had taken, and spent the
+month in a state of senseless ecstasy. Already I had learnt that, after
+our unexpected departure from Roulettenberg, he had had a sort of a
+fit--that he had fallen into a swoon, and spent a week in a species of
+garrulous delirium. Doctors had been summoned to him, but he had broken
+away from them, and suddenly taken a train to Paris. Of course
+Blanche's reception of him had acted as the best of all possible cures,
+but for long enough he carried the marks of his affliction, despite his
+present condition of rapture and delight. To think clearly, or even to
+engage in any serious conversation, had now become impossible for him;
+he could only ejaculate after each word "Hm!" and then nod his head in
+confirmation. Sometimes, also, he would laugh, but only in a nervous,
+hysterical sort of a fashion; while at other times he would sit for
+hours looking as black as night, with his heavy eyebrows knitted. Of
+much that went on he remained wholly oblivious, for he grew extremely
+absent-minded, and took to talking to himself. Only Blanche could awake
+him to any semblance of life. His fits of depression and moodiness in
+corners always meant either that he had not seen her for some while, or
+that she had gone out without taking him with her, or that she had
+omitted to caress him before departing. When in this condition, he
+would refuse to say what he wanted--nor had he the least idea that he
+was thus sulking and moping. Next, after remaining in this condition
+for an hour or two (this I remarked on two occasions when Blanche had
+gone out for the day--probably to see Albert), he would begin to look
+about him, and to grow uneasy, and to hurry about with an air as though
+he had suddenly remembered something, and must try and find it; after
+which, not perceiving the object of his search, nor succeeding in
+recalling what that object had been, he would as suddenly relapse into
+oblivion, and continue so until the reappearance of Blanche--merry,
+wanton, half-dressed, and laughing her strident laugh as she approached
+to pet him, and even to kiss him (though the latter reward he seldom
+received). Once, he was so overjoyed at her doing so that he burst into
+tears. Even I myself was surprised.
+
+From the first moment of his arrival in Paris, Blanche set herself to
+plead with me on his behalf; and at such times she even rose to heights
+of eloquence--saying that it was for ME she had abandoned him, though
+she had almost become his betrothed and promised to become so; that it
+was for HER sake he had deserted his family; that, having been in his
+service, I ought to remember the fact, and to feel ashamed. To all this
+I would say nothing, however much she chattered on; until at length I
+would burst out laughing, and the incident would come to an end (at
+first, as I have said, she had thought me a fool, but since she had
+come to deem me a man of sense and sensibility). In short, I had the
+happiness of calling her better nature into play; for though, at first,
+I had not deemed her so, she was, in reality, a kind-hearted woman
+after her own fashion. "You are good and clever," she said to me
+towards the finish, "and my one regret is that you are also so
+wrong-headed. You will NEVER be a rich man!"
+
+"Un vrai Russe--un Kalmuk" she usually called me.
+
+Several times she sent me to give the General an airing in the streets,
+even as she might have done with a lacquey and her spaniel; but, I
+preferred to take him to the theatre, to the Bal Mabille, and to
+restaurants. For this purpose she usually allowed me some money, though
+the General had a little of his own, and enjoyed taking out his purse
+before strangers. Once I had to use actual force to prevent him from
+buying a phaeton at a price of seven hundred francs, after a vehicle
+had caught his fancy in the Palais Royal as seeming to be a desirable
+present for Blanche. What could SHE have done with a
+seven-hundred-franc phaeton?--and the General possessed in the world
+but a thousand francs! The origin even of those francs I could never
+determine, but imagined them to have emanated from Mr. Astley--the more
+so since the latter had paid the family's hotel bill. As for what view
+the General took of myself, I think that he never divined the footing
+on which I stood with Blanche. True, he had heard, in a dim sort of
+way, that I had won a good deal of money; but more probably he supposed
+me to be acting as secretary--or even as a kind of servant--to his
+inamorata. At all events, he continued to address me, in his old
+haughty style, as my superior. At times he even took it upon himself to
+scold me. One morning in particular, he started to sneer at me over our
+matutinal coffee. Though not a man prone to take offence, he suddenly,
+and for some reason of which to this day I am ignorant, fell out with
+me. Of course even he himself did not know the reason. To put things
+shortly, he began a speech which had neither beginning nor ending, and
+cried out, a batons rompus, that I was a boy whom he would soon put to
+rights--and so forth, and so forth. Yet no one could understand what he
+was saying, and at length Blanche exploded in a burst of laughter.
+Finally something appeased him, and he was taken out for his walk. More
+than once, however, I noticed that his depression was growing upon him;
+that he seemed to be feeling the want of somebody or something; that,
+despite Blanche's presence, he was missing some person in particular.
+Twice, on these occasions, did he plunge into a conversation with me,
+though he could not make himself intelligible, and only went on
+rambling about the service, his late wife, his home, and his property.
+Every now and then, also, some particular word would please him;
+whereupon he would repeat it a hundred times in the day--even though
+the word happened to express neither his thoughts nor his feelings.
+Again, I would try to get him to talk about his children, but always he
+cut me short in his old snappish way, and passed to another subject.
+"Yes, yes--my children," was all that I could extract from him. "Yes,
+you are right in what you have said about them." Only once did he
+disclose his real feelings. That was when we were taking him to the
+theatre, and suddenly he exclaimed: "My unfortunate children! Yes, sir,
+they are unfortunate children." Once, too, when I chanced to mention
+Polina, he grew quite bitter against her. "She is an ungrateful woman!"
+he exclaimed. "She is a bad and ungrateful woman! She has broken up a
+family. If there were laws here, I would have her impaled. Yes, I
+would." As for De Griers, the General would not have his name
+mentioned. "He has ruined me," he would say. "He has robbed me, and cut
+my throat. For two years he was a perfect nightmare to me. For months
+at a time he never left me in my dreams. Do not speak of him again."
+
+It was now clear to me that Blanche and he were on the point of coming
+to terms; yet, true to my usual custom, I said nothing. At length,
+Blanche took the initiative in explaining matters. She did so a week
+before we parted.
+
+"Il a du chance," she prattled, "for the Grandmother is now REALLY ill,
+and therefore, bound to die. Mr. Astley has just sent a telegram to say
+so, and you will agree with me that the General is likely to be her
+heir. Even if he should not be so, he will not come amiss, since, in
+the first place, he has his pension, and, in the second place, he will
+be content to live in a back room; whereas I shall be Madame General,
+and get into a good circle of society" (she was always thinking of
+this) "and become a Russian chatelaine. Yes, I shall have a mansion of
+my own, and peasants, and a million of money at my back."
+
+"But, suppose he should prove jealous? He might demand all sorts of
+things, you know. Do you follow me?"
+
+"Oh, dear no! How ridiculous that would be of him! Besides, I have
+taken measures to prevent it. You need not be alarmed. That is to say,
+I have induced him to sign notes of hand in Albert's name.
+Consequently, at any time I could get him punished. Isn't he
+ridiculous?"
+
+"Very well, then. Marry him."
+
+And, in truth, she did so--though the marriage was a family one only,
+and involved no pomp or ceremony. In fact, she invited to the nuptials
+none but Albert and a few other friends. Hortense, Cleopatre, and the
+rest she kept firmly at a distance. As for the bridegroom, he took a
+great interest in his new position. Blanche herself tied his tie, and
+Blanche herself pomaded him--with the result that, in his frockcoat and
+white waistcoat, he looked quite comme il faut.
+
+"Il est, pourtant, TRES comme il faut," Blanche remarked when she
+issued from his room, as though the idea that he was "TRES comme il
+faut" had impressed even her. For myself, I had so little knowledge of
+the minor details of the affair, and took part in it so much as a
+supine spectator, that I have forgotten most of what passed on this
+occasion. I only remember that Blanche and the Widow figured at it, not
+as "de Cominges," but as "du Placet." Why they had hitherto been "de
+Cominges" I do not know--I only know that this entirely satisfied the
+General, that he liked the name "du Placet" even better than he had
+liked the name "de Cominges." On the morning of the wedding, he paced
+the salon in his gala attire and kept repeating to himself with an air
+of great gravity and importance: "Mlle. Blanche du Placet! Mlle.
+Blanche du Placet, du Placet!" He beamed with satisfaction as he did
+so. Both in the church and at the wedding breakfast he remained not
+only pleased and contented, but even proud. She too underwent a change,
+for now she assumed an air of added dignity.
+
+"I must behave altogether differently," she confided to me with a
+serious air. "Yet, mark you, there is a tiresome circumstance of which
+I had never before thought--which is, how best to pronounce my new
+family name. Zagorianski, Zagozianski, Madame la Generale de Sago,
+Madame la Generale de Fourteen Consonants--oh these infernal Russian
+names! The LAST of them would be the best to use, don't you think?"
+
+At length the time had come for us to part, and Blanche, the egregious
+Blanche, shed real tears as she took her leave of me. "Tu etais bon
+enfant" she said with a sob. "Je te croyais bete et tu en avais l'air,
+but it suited you." Then, having given me a final handshake, she
+exclaimed, "Attends!"; whereafter, running into her boudoir, she
+brought me thence two thousand-franc notes. I could scarcely believe my
+eyes! "They may come in handy for you," she explained, "for, though you
+are a very learned tutor, you are a very stupid man. More than two
+thousand francs, however, I am not going to give you, for the reason
+that, if I did so, you would gamble them all away. Now good-bye. Nous
+serons toujours bons amis, and if you win again, do not fail to come to
+me, et tu seras heureux."
+
+I myself had still five hundred francs left, as well as a watch worth a
+thousand francs, a few diamond studs, and so on. Consequently, I could
+subsist for quite a length of time without particularly bestirring
+myself. Purposely I have taken up my abode where I am now partly to
+pull myself together, and partly to wait for Mr. Astley, who, I have
+learnt, will soon be here for a day or so on business. Yes, I know
+that, and then--and then I shall go to Homburg. But to Roulettenberg I
+shall not go until next year, for they say it is bad to try one's luck
+twice in succession at a table. Moreover, Homburg is where the best
+play is carried on.
+
+
+
+XVII
+
+It is a year and eight months since I last looked at these notes of
+mine. I do so now only because, being overwhelmed with depression, I
+wish to distract my mind by reading them through at random. I left them
+off at the point where I was just going to Homburg. My God, with what a
+light heart (comparatively speaking) did I write the concluding
+lines!--though it may be not so much with a light heart, as with a
+measure of self-confidence and unquenchable hope. At that time had I
+any doubts of myself? Yet behold me now. Scarcely a year and a half
+have passed, yet I am in a worse position than the meanest beggar. But
+what is a beggar? A fig for beggary! I have ruined myself--that is all.
+Nor is there anything with which I can compare myself; there is no
+moral which it would be of any use for you to read to me. At the
+present moment nothing could well be more incongruous than a moral. Oh,
+you self-satisfied persons who, in your unctuous pride, are forever
+ready to mouth your maxims--if only you knew how fully I myself
+comprehend the sordidness of my present state, you would not trouble to
+wag your tongues at me! What could you say to me that I do not already
+know? Well, wherein lies my difficulty? It lies in the fact that by a
+single turn of a roulette wheel everything for me, has become changed.
+Yet, had things befallen otherwise, these moralists would have been
+among the first (yes, I feel persuaded of it) to approach me with
+friendly jests and congratulations. Yes, they would never have turned
+from me as they are doing now! A fig for all of them! What am I? I am
+zero--nothing. What shall I be tomorrow? I may be risen from the dead,
+and have begun life anew. For still, I may discover the man in myself,
+if only my manhood has not become utterly shattered.
+
+I went, I say, to Homburg, but afterwards went also to Roulettenberg,
+as well as to Spa and Baden; in which latter place, for a time, I acted
+as valet to a certain rascal of a Privy Councillor, by name Heintze,
+who until lately was also my master here. Yes, for five months I lived
+my life with lacqueys! That was just after I had come out of
+Roulettenberg prison, where I had lain for a small debt which I owed.
+Out of that prison I was bailed by--by whom? By Mr. Astley? By Polina?
+I do not know. At all events, the debt was paid to the tune of two
+hundred thalers, and I sallied forth a free man. But what was I to do
+with myself? In my dilemma I had recourse to this Heintze, who was a
+young scapegrace, and the sort of man who could speak and write three
+languages. At first I acted as his secretary, at a salary of thirty
+gulden a month, but afterwards I became his lacquey, for the reason
+that he could not afford to keep a secretary--only an unpaid servant. I
+had nothing else to turn to, so I remained with him, and allowed myself
+to become his flunkey. But by stinting myself in meat and drink I
+saved, during my five months of service, some seventy gulden; and one
+evening, when we were at Baden, I told him that I wished to resign my
+post, and then hastened to betake myself to roulette.
+
+Oh, how my heart beat as I did so! No, it was not the money that I
+valued--what I wanted was to make all this mob of Heintzes, hotel
+proprietors, and fine ladies of Baden talk about me, recount my story,
+wonder at me, extol my doings, and worship my winnings. True, these
+were childish fancies and aspirations, but who knows but that I might
+meet Polina, and be able to tell her everything, and see her look of
+surprise at the fact that I had overcome so many adverse strokes of
+fortune. No, I had no desire for money for its own sake, for I was
+perfectly well aware that I should only squander it upon some new
+Blanche, and spend another three weeks in Paris after buying a pair of
+horses which had cost sixteen thousand francs. No, I never believed
+myself to be a hoarder; in fact, I knew only too well that I was a
+spendthrift. And already, with a sort of fear, a sort of sinking in my
+heart, I could hear the cries of the croupiers--"Trente et un, rouge,
+impair et passe," "Quarte, noir, pair et manque."  How greedily I gazed
+upon the gaming-table, with its scattered louis d'or, ten-gulden
+pieces, and thalers; upon the streams of gold as they issued from the
+croupier's hands, and piled themselves up into heaps of gold
+scintillating as fire; upon the ell--long rolls of silver lying around
+the croupier. Even at a distance of two rooms I could hear the chink of
+that money--so much so that I nearly fell into convulsions.
+
+Ah, the evening when I took those seventy gulden to the gaming table
+was a memorable one for me. I began by staking ten gulden upon passe.
+For passe I had always had a sort of predilection, yet I lost my stake
+upon it. This left me with sixty gulden in silver. After a moment's
+thought I selected zero--beginning by staking five gulden at a time.
+Twice I lost, but the third round suddenly brought up the desired coup.
+I could almost have died with joy as I received my one hundred and
+seventy-five gulden. Indeed, I have been less pleased when, in former
+times, I have won a hundred thousand gulden. Losing no time, I staked
+another hundred gulden upon the red, and won; two hundred upon the red,
+and won; four hundred upon the black, and won; eight hundred upon
+manque, and won. Thus, with the addition of the remainder of my
+original capital, I found myself possessed, within five minutes, of
+seventeen hundred gulden.  Ah, at such moments one forgets both oneself
+and one's former failures! This I had gained by risking my very life. I
+had dared so to risk, and behold, again I was a member of mankind!
+
+I went and hired a room, I shut myself up in it, and sat counting my
+money until three o'clock in the morning. To think that when I awoke on
+the morrow, I was no lacquey! I decided to leave at once for Homburg.
+There I should neither have to serve as a footman nor to lie in prison.
+Half an hour before starting, I went and ventured a couple of
+stakes--no more; with the result that, in all, I lost fifteen hundred
+florins. Nevertheless, I proceeded to Homburg, and have now been there
+for a month.
+
+Of course, I am living in constant trepidation, playing for the
+smallest of stakes, and always looking out for something--calculating,
+standing whole days by the gaming-tables to watch the play--even seeing
+that play in my dreams--yet seeming, the while, to be in some way
+stiffening, to be growing caked, as it were, in mire. But I must
+conclude my notes, which I finish under the impression of a recent
+encounter with Mr. Astley. I had not seen him since we parted at
+Roulettenberg, and now we met quite by accident. At the time I was
+walking in the public gardens, and meditating upon the fact that not
+only had I still some fifty gulden in my possession, but also I had
+fully paid up my hotel bill three days ago. Consequently, I was in a
+position to try my luck again at roulette; and if I won anything I
+should be able to continue my play, whereas, if I lost what I now
+possessed, I should once more have to accept a lacquey's place,
+provided that, in the alternative, I failed to discover a Russian
+family which stood in need of a tutor. Plunged in these reflections, I
+started on my daily walk through the Park and forest towards a
+neighbouring principality. Sometimes, on such occasions, I spent four
+hours on the way, and would return to Homburg tired and hungry; but, on
+this particular occasion, I had scarcely left the gardens for the Park
+when I caught sight of Astley seated on a bench. As soon as he
+perceived me, he called me by name, and I went and sat down beside him;
+but, on noticing that he seemed a little stiff in his manner, I
+hastened to moderate the expression of joy which the sight of him had
+called forth.
+
+"YOU here?" he said. "Well, I had an idea that I should meet you. Do
+not trouble to tell me anything, for I know all--yes, all. In fact,
+your whole life during the past twenty months lies within my knowledge."
+
+"How closely you watch the doings of your old friends!" I replied.
+"That does you infinite credit. But stop a moment. You have reminded me
+of something. Was it you who bailed me out of Roulettenberg prison when
+I was lying there for a debt of two hundred gulden? SOMEONE did so."
+
+"Oh dear no!--though I knew all the time that you were lying there."
+
+"Perhaps you could tell me who DID bail me out?"
+
+"No; I am afraid I could not."
+
+"What a strange thing! For I know no Russians at all here, so it cannot
+have been a Russian who befriended me. In Russia we Orthodox folk DO go
+bail for one another, but in this case I thought it must have been done
+by some English stranger who was not conversant with the ways of the
+country."
+
+Mr. Astley seemed to listen to me with a sort of surprise. Evidently he
+had expected to see me looking more crushed and broken than I was.
+
+"Well," he said--not very pleasantly, "I am none the less glad to find
+that you retain your old independence of spirit, as well as your
+buoyancy."
+
+"Which means that you are vexed at not having found me more abased and
+humiliated than I am?" I retorted with a smile.
+
+Astley was not quick to understand this, but presently did so and
+laughed.
+
+"Your remarks please me as they always did," he continued. "In those
+words I see the clever, triumphant, and, above all things, cynical
+friend of former days. Only Russians have the faculty of combining
+within themselves so many opposite qualities. Yes, most men love to see
+their best friend in abasement; for generally it is on such abasement
+that friendship is founded. All thinking persons know that ancient
+truth. Yet, on the present occasion, I assure you, I am sincerely glad
+to see that you are NOT cast down. Tell me, are you never going to give
+up gambling?"
+
+"Damn the gambling! Yes, I should certainly have given it up, were it
+not that--"
+
+"That you are losing? I thought so. You need not tell me any more. I
+know how things stand, for you have said that last in despair, and
+therefore, truthfully. Have you no other employment than gambling?"
+
+"No; none whatever."
+
+Astley gave me a searching glance. At that time it was ages since I had
+last looked at a paper or turned the pages of a book.
+
+"You are growing blase," he said. "You have not only renounced life,
+with its interests and social ties, but the duties of a citizen and a
+man; you have not only renounced the friends whom I know you to have
+had, and every aim in life but that of winning money; but you have also
+renounced your memory. Though I can remember you in the strong, ardent
+period of your life, I feel persuaded that you have now forgotten every
+better feeling of that period--that your present dreams and aspirations
+of subsistence do not rise above pair, impair rouge, noir, the twelve
+middle numbers, and so forth."
+
+"Enough, Mr. Astley!" I cried with some irritation--almost in anger.
+"Kindly do not recall to me any more recollections, for I can remember
+things for myself. Only for a time have I put them out of my head. Only
+until I shall have rehabilitated myself, am I keeping my memory dulled.
+When that hour shall come, you will see me arise from the dead."
+
+"Then you will have to be here another ten years," he replied. "Should
+I then be alive, I will remind you--here, on this very bench--of what I
+have just said. In fact, I will bet you a wager that I shall do so."
+
+"Say no more," I interrupted impatiently. "And to show you that I have
+not wholly forgotten the past, may I enquire where Mlle. Polina is? If
+it was not you who bailed me out of prison, it must have been she. Yet
+never have I heard a word concerning her."
+
+"No, I do not think it was she. At the present moment she is in
+Switzerland, and you will do me a favour by ceasing to ask me these
+questions about her." Astley said this with a firm, and even an angry,
+air.
+
+"Which means that she has dealt you a serious wound?" I burst out with
+an involuntary sneer.
+
+"Mlle. Polina," he continued, "Is the best of all possible living
+beings; but, I repeat, that I shall thank you to cease questioning me
+about her. You never really knew her, and her name on your lips is an
+offence to my moral feeling."
+
+"Indeed? On what subject, then, have I a better right to speak to you
+than on this? With it are bound up all your recollections and mine.
+However, do not be alarmed: I have no wish to probe too far into your
+private, your secret affairs. My interest in Mlle. Polina does not
+extend beyond her outward circumstances and surroundings. About them
+you could tell me in two words."
+
+"Well, on condition that the matter shall end there, I will tell you
+that for a long time Mlle. Polina was ill, and still is so. My mother
+and sister entertained her for a while at their home in the north of
+England, and thereafter Mlle. Polina's grandmother (you remember the
+mad old woman?) died, and left Mlle. Polina a personal legacy of seven
+thousand pounds sterling. That was about six months ago, and now Mlle.
+is travelling with my sister's family--my sister having since married.
+Mlle.'s little brother and sister also benefited by the Grandmother's
+will, and are now being educated in London. As for the General, he died
+in Paris last month, of a stroke. Mlle. Blanche did well by him, for
+she succeeded in having transferred to herself all that he received
+from the Grandmother. That, I think, concludes all that I have to tell."
+
+"And De Griers? Is he too travelling in Switzerland?"
+
+"No; nor do I know where he is. Also I warn you once more that you had
+better avoid such hints and ignoble suppositions; otherwise you will
+assuredly have to reckon with me."
+
+"What? In spite of our old friendship?"
+
+"Yes, in spite of our old friendship."
+
+"Then I beg your pardon a thousand times, Mr. Astley. I meant nothing
+offensive to Mlle. Polina, for I have nothing of which to accuse her.
+Moreover, the question of there being anything between this Frenchman
+and this Russian lady is not one which you and I need discuss, nor even
+attempt to understand."
+
+"If," replied Astley, "you do not care to hear their names coupled
+together, may I ask you what you mean by the expressions 'this
+Frenchman,' 'this Russian lady,' and 'there being anything between
+them'? Why do you call them so particularly a 'Frenchman' and a
+'Russian lady'?"
+
+"Ah, I see you are interested, Mr. Astley. But it is a long, long
+story, and calls for a lengthy preface. At the same time, the question
+is an important one, however ridiculous it may seem at the first
+glance. A Frenchman, Mr. Astley, is merely a fine figure of a man. With
+this you, as a Britisher, may not agree. With it I also, as a Russian,
+may not agree--out of envy. Yet possibly our good ladies are of another
+opinion. For instance, one may look upon Racine as a broken-down,
+hobbledehoy, perfumed individual--one may even be unable to read him;
+and I too may think him the same, as well as, in some respects, a
+subject for ridicule. Yet about him, Mr. Astley, there is a certain
+charm, and, above all things, he is a great poet--though one might like
+to deny it. Yes, the Frenchman, the Parisian, as a national figure, was
+in process of developing into a figure of elegance before we Russians
+had even ceased to be bears. The Revolution bequeathed to the French
+nobility its heritage, and now every whippersnapper of a Parisian may
+possess manners, methods of expression, and even thoughts that are
+above reproach in form, while all the time he himself may share in that
+form neither in initiative nor in intellect nor in soul--his manners,
+and the rest, having come to him through inheritance. Yes, taken by
+himself, the Frenchman is frequently a fool of fools and a villain of
+villains. Per contra, there is no one in the world more worthy of
+confidence and respect than this young Russian lady. De Griers might so
+mask his face and play a part as easily to overcome her heart, for he
+has an imposing figure, Mr. Astley, and this young lady might easily
+take that figure for his real self--for the natural form of his heart
+and soul--instead of the mere cloak with which heredity has dowered
+him. And even though it may offend you, I feel bound to say that the
+majority also of English people are uncouth and unrefined, whereas we
+Russian folk can recognise beauty wherever we see it, and are always
+eager to cultivate the same. But to distinguish beauty of soul and
+personal originality there is needed far more independence and freedom
+than is possessed by our women, especially by our younger ladies. At
+all events, they need more EXPERIENCE. For instance, this Mlle.
+Polina--pardon me, but the name has passed my lips, and I cannot well
+recall it--is taking a very long time to make up her mind to prefer you
+to Monsieur de Griers. She may respect you, she may become your friend,
+she may open out her heart to you; yet over that heart there will be
+reigning that loathsome villain, that mean and petty usurer, De Griers.
+This will be due to obstinacy and self-love--to the fact that De Griers
+once appeared to her in the transfigured guise of a marquis, of a
+disenchanted and ruined liberal who was doing his best to help her
+family and the frivolous old General; and, although these transactions
+of his have since been exposed, you will find that the exposure has
+made no impression upon her mind. Only give her the De Griers of former
+days, and she will ask of you no more. The more she may detest the
+present De Griers, the more will she lament the De Griers of the
+past--even though the latter never existed but in her own imagination.
+You are a sugar refiner, Mr. Astley, are you not?"
+
+"Yes, I belong to the well-known firm of Lovell and Co."
+
+"Then see here. On the one hand, you are a sugar refiner, while, on the
+other hand, you are an Apollo Belvedere. But the two characters do not
+mix with one another. I, again, am not even a sugar refiner; I am a
+mere roulette gambler who has also served as a lacquey. Of this fact
+Mlle. Polina is probably well aware, since she appears to have an
+excellent force of police at her disposal."
+
+"You are saying this because you are feeling bitter," said Astley with
+cold indifference. "Yet there is not the least originality in your
+words."
+
+"I agree. But therein lies the horror of it all--that, how trepidation,
+playing ever mean and farcical my accusations may be, they are none the
+less TRUE. But I am only wasting words."
+
+"Yes, you are, for you are only talking nonsense!" exclaimed my
+companion--his voice now trembling and his eyes flashing fire. "Are you
+aware," he continued, "that wretched, ignoble, petty, unfortunate man
+though you are, it was at HER request I came to Homburg, in order to
+see you, and to have a long, serious talk with you, and to report to
+her your feelings and thoughts and hopes--yes, and your recollections
+of her, too?"
+
+"Indeed? Is that really so?" I cried--the tears beginning to well from
+my eyes. Never before had this happened.
+
+"Yes, poor unfortunate," continued Astley. "She DID love you; and I may
+tell you this now for the reason that now you are utterly lost. Even if
+I were also to tell you that she still loves you, you would none the
+less have to remain where you are. Yes, you have ruined yourself beyond
+redemption. Once upon a time you had a certain amount of talent, and
+you were of a lively disposition, and your good looks were not to be
+despised. You might even have been useful to your country, which needs
+men like you. Yet you remained here, and your life is now over. I am
+not blaming you for this--in my view all Russians resemble you, or are
+inclined to do so. If it is not roulette, then it is something else.
+The exceptions are very rare. Nor are you the first to learn what a
+taskmaster is yours. For roulette is not exclusively a Russian game.
+Hitherto, you have honourably preferred to serve as a lacquey rather
+than to act as a thief; but what the future may have in store for you I
+tremble to think. Now good-bye. You are in want of money, I suppose?
+Then take these ten louis d'or. More I shall not give you, for you
+would only gamble it away. Take care of these coins, and farewell. Once
+more, TAKE CARE of them."
+
+"No, Mr. Astley. After all that has been said I--"
+
+"TAKE CARE of them!" repeated my friend. "I am certain you are still a
+gentleman, and therefore I give you the money as one gentleman may give
+money to another. Also, if I could be certain that you would leave both
+Homburg and the gaming-tables, and return to your own country, I would
+give you a thousand pounds down to start life afresh; but, I give you
+ten louis d'or instead of a thousand pounds for the reason that at the
+present time a thousand pounds and ten louis d'or will be all the same
+to you--you will lose the one as readily as you will the other. Take
+the money, therefore, and good-bye."
+
+"Yes, I WILL take it if at the same time you will embrace me."
+
+"With pleasure."
+
+So we parted--on terms of sincere affection.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *
+
+But he was wrong. If I was hard and undiscerning as regards Polina and
+De Griers, HE was hard and undiscerning as regards Russian people
+generally. Of myself I say nothing. Yet--yet words are only words. I
+need to ACT. Above all things I need to think of Switzerland. Tomorrow,
+tomorrow--Ah, but if only I could set things right tomorrow, and be
+born again, and rise again from the dead! But no--I cannot. Yet I must
+show her what I can do. Even if she should do no more than learn that I
+can still play the man, it would be worth it. Today it is too late, but
+TOMORROW...
+
+Yet I have a presentiment that things can never be otherwise. I have
+got fifteen louis d'or in my possession, although I began with fifteen
+gulden. If I were to play carefully at the start--But no, no! Surely I
+am not such a fool as that? Yet WHY should I not rise from the dead? I
+should require at first but to go cautiously and patiently and the rest
+would follow. I should require but to put a check upon my nature for
+one hour, and my fortunes would be changed entirely. Yes, my nature is
+my weak point. I have only to remember what happened to me some months
+ago at Roulettenberg, before my final ruin. What a notable instance
+that was of my capacity for resolution! On the occasion in question I
+had lost everything--everything; yet, just as I was leaving the Casino,
+I heard another gulden give a rattle in my pocket! "Perhaps I shall
+need it for a meal," I thought to myself; but a hundred paces further
+on, I changed my mind, and returned. That gulden I staked upon
+manque--and there is something in the feeling that, though one is
+alone, and in a foreign land, and far from one's own home and friends,
+and ignorant of whence one's next meal is to come, one is nevertheless
+staking one's very last coin! Well, I won the stake, and in twenty
+minutes had left the Casino with a hundred and seventy gulden in my
+pocket! That is a fact, and it shows what a last remaining gulden can
+do.... But what if my heart had failed me, or I had shrunk from
+making up my mind? ...
+
+No: tomorrow all shall be ended!
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Gambler, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
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