"De Simoncourt, by all that"s propitious!" cried Dalrymple.
"What--Major Dalrymple returned to Paris!"
"Ay, just returned. Bored to death with Berlin and Vienna--no place like Paris, De Simoncourt, go where one will!"
"None, indeed. There is but one Paris, and pleasure is the true profit of all who visit it."
"My dear De Simoncourt, I am appalled to hear you perpetrate a pun! By the way, you have met Mr. Basil Arbuthnot at my rooms?"
M. de Simoncourt lifted his hat, and was graciously pleased to remember the circ.u.mstance.
"And now," pursued Dalrymple, "having met, what shall, we do next? Have you any engagement for the small hours, De Simoncourt?"
"I am quite at your disposal. Where were your bound for?"
"Anywhere--everywhere. I want excitement."
"Would a hand at _ecarte_, or a green table, have any attraction for you?" suggested De Simoncourt, falling into the trap as readily as one could have desired.
"The very thing, if you know where they are to be found!"
"Nay, I need not take you far to find both. There is in this very street a house where money may be lost and won as easily as at the Bourse.
Follow me."
He took us to the white house at the corner, and, pressing a spring concealed in the wood-work of the lintel, rung a bell of shrill and peculiar _timbre_. The door opened immediately, and, after we had pa.s.sed in, closed behind us without any visible agency. Still following at the heels of M. de Simoncourt, we then went up a s.p.a.cious staircase dimly lighted, and, leaving our hats in an ante-room, entered unannounced into an elegant _salon_, where some twenty or thirty _habitues_ of both s.e.xes had already commenced the business of the evening. The ladies, of whom there were not more than half-a-dozen, were all more or less painted, _pa.s.sees_, and showily dressed. Among the men were military stocks, ribbons, crosses, stars, and fine t.i.tles in abundance. We were evidently supposed to be in very brilliant society--brilliant, however, with a fict.i.tious l.u.s.tre that betrayed the tinsel beneath, and reminded one of a fashionable reception on the boards of the Haymarket or the Porte St. Martin. The mistress of the house, an abundant and somewhat elderly Juno in green velvet, with a profusion of jewelry on her arms and bosom, came forward to receive us.
"Madame de Sainte Amaranthe, permit me to present my friends, Major Dalrymple and Mr. Arbuthnot," said De Simoncourt, imprinting a gallant kiss on the plump hand of the hostess.
Madame de Ste. Amaranthe professed herself charmed to receive any friends of M. de Simoncourt; whereupon M. de Simoncourt"s friends were enchanted to be admitted to the privilege of Madame de Ste. Amaranthe"s acquaintance. Madame de Ste. Amaranthe then informed us that she was the widow of a general officer who fell at Austerlitz, and the daughter of a rich West India planter whom she called her _pere adore_, and to whose supposit.i.tious memory she wiped away an imaginary tear with an embroidered pocket-handkerchief. She then begged that we would make ourselves at home, and, gliding away, whispered something in De Simoncourt"s ear, to which he replied by a nod of intelligence.
"That harpy hopes to fleece us," said Dalrymple, slipping his arm through mine and drawing me towards the roulette table. "She has just told De Simoncourt to take us in hand. I always suspected the fellow was a Greek."
"A Greek?"
"Ay, in the figurative sense--a gentleman who lives by dexterity at cards."
"And shall you play?"
"By-and-by. Not yet, because--"
He checked himself, and looked anxiously round the room.
"Because what?"
"Tell me, Arbuthnot," said he, paying no attention to my question; "do _you_ mind playing?"
"I? My dear fellow, I hardly know one card from another."
"But have you any objection?"
"None whatever to the game; but a good deal to the penalty. I don"t mind confessing to you that I ran into debt some months back, and that...."
"Nonsense, boy!" interrupted Dalrymple, with a kindly smile. "Do you suppose I want you to gamble away your money? No, no--the fact is, that I am here for a purpose, and it will not do to let my purpose be suspected. These Greeks want a pigeon. Will you oblige me by being that pigeon, and by allowing me to pay for your plucking?"
I still hesitated.
"But you will be helping me," urged he. "If you don"t sit down, I must."
"You would not lose so much," I expostulated.
"Perhaps not, if I were cool and kept my eyes open; but to-night I am _distrait_, and should be as defenceless as yourself."
"In that case I will play for you with pleasure."
He slipped a little pocket-book into my hand.
"Never stake more than five francs at a time," said he, "and you cannot ruin me. The book contains a thousand. You shall have more, if necessary; but I think that sum will last as long as I shall want you to keep playing."
"A thousand francs!" I exclaimed. "Why, that is forty pounds!"
"If it were four hundred, and it answered my purpose," said Dalrymple, between his teeth, "I should hold it money well spent!"
At this moment De Simoncourt came up, and apologized for having left us so long.
"If you want mere amus.e.m.e.nt, Major Dalrymple," said he, "I suppose you will prefer _roulette_ to _ecarte_!"
"I will stake a few pieces presently on the green cloth," replied Dalrymple, carelessly; "but, first of all, I want to initiate my young friend here. As to double _ecarte_, Monsieur de Simoncourt, I need hardly tell you, as a man of the world, that I never play it with strangers."
De Simoncourt smiled, and shrugged his shoulders.
"Quite right," said he. "I believe that here everything is really _de bonne foi_; but where there are cards there will always be danger. For my part, I always shuffle the pack after my adversary!"
With this he strolled off again, and I took a vacant chair at the long table, next to a lady, who made way for me with the most gracious smile imaginable. Only the players sat; so Dalrymple stood behind me and looked on. It was a green board, somewhat larger than an ordinary billiard-table, with mysterious boundaries traced here and there in yellow and red, and a cabalistic table of figures towards each end. A couple of well-dressed men sat in the centre; one to deal out the cards, and the other to pay and receive the money. The one who had the management of the cash wore a superb diamond ring, and a red and green ribbon at his b.u.t.ton-hole. Dalrymple informed me in a whisper that this n.o.ble seigneur was Madame de Ste. Amaranthe"s brother.
As for the players, they all looked serious and polite enough, as ladies and gentlemen should, at their amus.e.m.e.nt. Some had pieces of card, which they p.r.i.c.ked occasionally with a pin, according to the progress of the game. Some had little piles of silver, or sealed _rouleaux_, lying beside them. As for myself, I took out Dalrymple"s pocket-book, and laid it beside me, as if I were an experienced player and meant to break the bank. For a few minutes he stood by, and then, having given me some idea of the leading principles of the game, wandered away to observe the other players.
Left to myself, I played on--timidly at first; soon with more confidence; and, of course, with the novice"s invariable good-fortune.
My amiable neighbor drew me presently into conversation. She had a theory of chances relating to averages of color, and based upon a bewildering calculation of all the black and red cards in the pack, which she was so kind as to explain to me. I could not understand a word of it, but politeness compelled me to listen. Politeness also compelled me to follow her advice when she was so obliging as to offer it, and I lost, as a matter of course. From this moment my good-luck deserted me.
"Courage, Monsieur," said my amiable neighbour; "you have only to play long enough, and you are sure to win."
In the meantime, I kept following Dalrymple with my eyes, for there was something in his manner that filled me with vague uneasiness. Sometimes he drew near the table and threw down a Napoleon, but without heeding the game, or caring whether he won or lost. He was always looking to the door, or wandering restlessly from table to table. Watching him thus, I thought how haggard he looked, and what deep channels were furrowed in his brow since that day when we lay together on the autumnal gra.s.s under the trees in the forest of St. Germain.
Thus a long time went by, and I found by my watch that it was nearly four o"clock in the morning--also that I had lost six hundred francs out of the thousand. It seemed incredible. I could hardly believe that the time and the money had flown so fast. I rose in my seat and looked round for Dalrymple; but in vain. Could he be gone, leaving me here?
Impossible! Apprehensive of I knew not what, I pushed back my chair, and left the table. The rooms were now much fuller--more stars and moustachios; more velvets and laces, and Paris diamonds. Fresh tables, too, had been opened for _lansquenet, baccarat_, and _ecarte_. At one of these I saw M. de Simoncourt. When he laid down his cards for the deal, I seized the opportunity to inquire for my friend.
He pointed to a small inner room divided by a rich hanging from the farther end of the _salon_.