been seen
playing a fiddle at one of the cheap theatres; that he had
been recognized in the dress of a fiacre-driver, and in that
of a waiter at a Cafe Chantant: but these reports were idly
spread, and wanted confirmation. They might or might not have
been true. M. Linders never cared to talk much of those seven
or eight years in which he had effaced himself, as it were,
from society; but it may be imagined that he went through some
strange experiences in a life which was a struggle for bare
existence. Respectable ways of gaining a livelihood he ever
held in aversion; and it was not, therefore, to be expected
that a foolish and unprofitable pride would interfere to
prevent his using any means not absolutely criminal in order
to reach any desired end.

At length, however, he emerged from obscurity, and rose once
more to the surface of society; and one of his old
acquaintance, who encountered him at Homburg, returned
marvelling to Paris to relate that he had seen Adolphe Linders
winning fabulous sums at _trente-et-quarante_, that he was
decently clothed, had a magnificent suite of apartments at one
of the first hotels, and an English wife of wondrous beauty.
Monsieur Linders had, in fact, sown his wild oats, so to
speak, and settled down to the business of his life. In former
days, gambling had been a passion with him--too much so,
indeed, to admit of his playing with any great success; he had
been apt to lose both temper and skill. Time, however, while
increasing this passion for play, till it gradually became a
necessity of his life, had taught him to bring to bear upon it
all the ability which would have eminently fitted him for some
more praiseworthy employment. Formerly he had indulged in it
as a diversion; now it became a serious business, which he
prosecuted with a cool head, determined will, and unfailing
perseverance--qualities for which few would have given him
credit in the wild unsettled period of his early career. The
result was highly satisfactory to himself; he was soon known
as one of the most successful haunters of the German and
Belgian gaming-tables; he cast off the outward aspect and
manners of the Bohemian set he had once affected, and assumed
the guise and dress of the gentleman he really was--at least by
birth and education--and which he found at once more profitable
and more congenial to his maturer tastes. He lived splendidly,
and spent money freely when he had it; incurred debts with
great