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
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