knows that bezique is played with four packs of cards, and
that the number of points may be continued indefinitely. The essential
thing is to win at least one thousand points at the end of each hand;
unless a player does this he is said to "pass the Rubicon," becoming
twice a loser--that is, the victor adds to his own score the points lost
by his adversary. Good play, therefore, consists largely in avoiding
the "Rubicon" and in remaining master of the game to the last trick,
in order to force one's adversary over the "Rubicon," if he stands in
danger of it. The first two hands were lost by Landry, who, having each
time approached the "Rubicon," succeeded in avoiding it only by the
greatest skill and prudence. Immediately his opponent, still believing
that good luck must return to him, began to neglect the smaller points
in order to make telling strokes, but he became stranded at the very
port of success, as it were; so that, deducting the amount of his first
winning, he found at the end of the fifth hand that he had lost six
thousand points. Notwithstanding his wonderful self-control, it was
not without difficulty that the young officer preserved a calm demeanor
under the severe blows dealt him by Fortune. Paul Landry, always
master of himself, lowered his eyes that their expression of greedy
and merciless joy should not be seen. The nearer the game drew to its
conclusion, the closer pressed the circle of spectators, and in the
midst of a profound silence the last hand began. Favored from the
beginning with the luckiest cards, followed by the most fortunate
returns, Paul Landry scored successively "forty, bezique," five hundred
and fifteen hundred. He lacked two cards to make the highest point
possible, but Henri, by their absence from his own hand, could measure
the peril that menaced him. So, surveying the number of cards that
remained in stock, he guarded carefully three aces of trumps which might
help him to avert disaster. But, playing the only ace that would allow
him to score again, Paul Landry announced coldly, laying on the table
four queens of spades and four knaves of diamonds:

"Four thousand five hundred!" This was the final stroke. The last hand
had wiped out, by eight thousand points, the possessions of Landry's
adversary. The former losses of the unfortunate Marquis were now
augmented by one hundred and forty thousand francs. Henri became very
pale, but, summoning all his pride to meet the glances of the