, sanguine, with the face
of a bold lover, of a man noticeably gallant. I recall him most
vividly as he sat in a cafe behind a little round table. It was thus
one saw him most frequently, with his hard, swarthy face and
moustaches that curled like a ram's horns. In such places he seemed
most at home, with men about him and cards ready to his hand; and
yet--has Madame seen the kind of man who is never wholly at his ease,
who stands for ever on his guard, as it were! Bertin was such a one;
there were many occasions when I remarked it. He would be in the
centre of a company of his friends, assured, genial, dominant; and
yet, at each fresh arrival in the room, he would look up with
something furtive and defensive in his expression. I have seen
deserters like that, but in Bertin it lacked an explanation."

"And there was a further matter yet. He was my fellow officer; I saw
him on parade and at mess; but his life, the life of his own choice,
was lived among those who were not our equals. How shall I make that
clear to you, Madame? In those days, Europe drained into Algiers; it
had its little world of men who gambled and drank much, and
understood one another with a complete mistrust; it was with such as
these that Bertin occupied his leisure. It was with them that his
harshness and power were most efficacious. Naturally, it was not
pleasant for us, his colleagues, to behold him for ever with such
companions; the most of them seemed to be men connected with one
sport or another, with billiards, or racing, or the like; but there
was nothing to be done."

The Comtesse shifted slightly in her chair. "He had power," she said
thoughtfully.

The little Colonel nodded twice. "He had power, as Madame observes.
He had many good qualities--not quite enough, it is true, but many.
There were even those that loved him, dogs, horses, waiters,
croupiers and the poor women who made up the background of his life.
I have thought, sometimes, that it is easy for a man to be loved,
Madame, if he will take that responsibility. But what befell Bertin
was not commonplace. He returned to France on leave, for six months,
and it was then, I believe, that he first met the lady who became
Madame Bertin?"

He gave the words the tone of a question, and the Comtesse answered
with a slow gesture of assent.

"Yes, I have heard that it was so," said the Colonel. "Of what took
place at that time I can tell nothing, naturally, and Madame is no
doubt suff