ughts from his former sinful life--however great was the
awe that then fell upon the Chevalier, yet his mind was thereby led,
though how he could not explain, to dwell more keenly upon play than
ever before, so that every night in his dreams he sat at the faro-bank
and heaped up riches anew.

"In proportion as Angela's behaviour became more constrained, in
consequence of her recollection of the character in which she had first
seen the Chevalier, and as it became more and more impossible for her
to continue to meet him upon the old affectionate, confidential footing
upon which they had hitherto lived, so exactly in the same degree
distrust of Angela crept into the Chevalier's mind, since he ascribed
her constraint to the secret which had once disturbed her peace of mind
and which had not been revealed to him. From this distrust were born
displeasure and unpleasantness, and these he expressed in various ways
which hurt Angela's feelings. By a singular cross-action of spiritual
influence Angela's recollections of the unhappy Duvemet began to recur
to her mind with fresher force, and along with these the intolerable
consciousness of her ruined love,--the loveliest blossom that had
budded in her youthful heart. The strained relations between the pair
continued to increase until things got to such a pitch that the
Chevalier grew disgusted with his simple mode of life, thought it dull,
and was smitten with a powerful longing to enjoy the life of the world
again. His star of ill omen began to acquire the ascendancy. The change
which had been inaugurated by displeasure and great unpleasantness was
completed by an abandoned wretch who had formerly been croupier in the
Chevalier's faro-bank. He succeeded by means of the most artful
insinuations and conversations in making the Chevalier look upon his
present walk of life as childish and ridiculous. The Chevalier could
not understand at last how, for a woman's sake, he ever came to leave a
world which appeared to him to contain all that made life of any worth.

"It was not long ere Chevalier Menars' rich bank was flourishing more
magnificently than ever. His good-luck had not left him; victim after
victim came and fell; he amassed heaps of riches. But Angela's
happiness--it was ruined--ruined in fearful fashion; it was to be
compared to a short fair dream. The Chevalier treated her with
indifference, nay even with contempt. Often, for weeks and months
together, she never saw him o