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 Blanche had withdrawn a little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.
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