han wait for danger, provoke it.

So, with an almost defiant air, he seated himself beside a young
lady dressed in pink tulle, and began to laugh and chat with her. He
possessed a ready wit, and what is even better, tact; and for a quarter
of an hour astonished those around him by his brilliant sallies.
Champagne was flowing freely; and he drank four or five glasses in quick
succession. Was he really conscious of what he was doing and saying? He
subsequently declared that he was not, that he acted under the influence
of a sort of hallucination similar to that produced by the inhalation of
carbonic gas.

However, the guests did not linger long at the supper-table. "Let us go
back!" cried the old gentleman, who had insisted upon the suspension of
the game; "we are wasting a deal of precious time here!"

Pascal rose with the others, and in his haste to enter the adjoining
room he jostled two men who were talking together near the door. "So it
is understood," said one of them.

"Yes, yes, leave it to me; I will act as executioner."

This word sent all Pascal's blood bounding to his heart. "Who is to be
executed?" he thought? "I am evidently to be the victim. But what does it
all mean?"

Meanwhile the players at the green table had changed places, and Pascal
found himself seated not on Ferdinand's right, but directly opposite
him, and between two men about his own age--one of them being the person
who had announced his intention of acting as executioner. All eyes were
fixed upon the unfortunate advocate when it came his turn to deal. He
staked two hundred louis, and lost them. There was a slight commotion
round the table; and one of the players who had lost most heavily,
remarked in an undertone: "Don't look so hard at the gentleman--he won't
have any more luck."

As Pascal heard this ironical remark, uttered in a tone which made it as
insulting as a blow, a gleam of light darted through his puzzled brain.
He suspected at last, what any person less honest than himself would
have long before understood. He thought of rising and demanding an
apology; but he was stunned, almost overcome by the horrors of his
situation. His ears tingled, and it seemed to him as if the beating of
his heart were suspended.

However the game proceeded; but no one paid any attention to it. The
stakes were insignificant, and loss or gain drew no exclamation from any
one. The attention of the entire party was concentrated on Pascal; and
he,