character was ambitious and calculating. He cherished, under a
quiet demeanor, a strong hope of being able to supply, by the rapid
acquisition of a fortune, the deficiencies of his inferior birth, from
which his secret vanity suffered severely. Being an expert in all games
of chance, he had already accumulated, while waiting for some brilliant
coup, enough to lead a life of comparative elegance, thus giving a
certain satisfaction to his instincts. He and Henri de Prerolles never
yet had played cards together, but the occasion was sure to come some
day, and Paul Landry had desired it a long time.

The company, a little silent at first, was becoming somewhat more
animated, when a head-waiter, correct, and full of a sense of his own
importance, entered the salon, holding out before him with both hands
a large tray covered with slender glasses filled with a beverage called
"the cardinal's drink," composed of champagne, Bordeaux, and slices of
pineapple. The method of blending these materials was a professional
secret of the Freres-Provencaux.

Instantly the guests were on their feet, and Heloise, who had been
served first, proposed that they should drink the health of the Marquis,
but, prompted by one of her facetious impulses, instead of lifting the
glass to her own lips, she presented it to those of the waiter, and,
raising her arm, compelled him to swallow the contents. Encouraged
by laughter and applause, she presented to him a second glass, then a
third; and the unhappy man drank obediently, not being able to push away
the glasses without endangering the safety of the tray he carried.

Fanny Dorville interceded in vain for the victim; the inexorable duenna
had already seized a fourth glass, and the final catastrophe would have
been infallibly brought about, had not providence intervened in the
person of the call-boy, who, thrusting his head through the half-open
doorway, cried, shrilly:

"Ladies, they are about to begin!"

The two actresses hastened away, escorted by Andre Desvanneaux, a modern
Tartufe, who, though married, was seen everywhere, as much at home
behind the scenes as in church.

Coffee and liqueurs were then served in a salon adjoining the large
dining-room, which gave the effect of a private club-room to this part
of the restaurant.

Cigars were lighted, and conversation soon turned on feminine charms and
the performances of various horses, particularly those of Franc-Comtois,
the winner of the