self, my dear good
child--go and sleep--dream of happy days to come, of a better life that
is in store for you; that will bring good-luck.' Herewith he kissed his
wife and hurried off before she could stop him.

"Two _tailles_, and the Chevalier had lost all--all. He stood beside
the Colonel, staring upon the faro-table in moody senselessness.

"'Are you not punting any more, Chevalier?' said the Colonel, shuffling
the cards for a new _taille_, 'I have lost all,' replied the Chevalier,
forcing himself with an effort to be calm.

"'Have you really nothing left?' asked the Colonel at the next
_taille_.

"'I am a beggar,' cried the Chevalier, his voice trembling with rage
and mortification; and he continued to stare fiercely upon the table
without observing that the players were gaining more and more
advantages over the banker.

"The Colonel went on playing quietly. But whilst shuffling the cards
for the following _taille_, he said in a low voice, without looking at
the Chevalier, 'But you have a beautiful wife.'

"'What do you mean by that?' burst out the Chevalier angrily. The
Colonel drew his cards without making any answer.

"'Ten thousand ducats or--Angela!' said the Colonel, half turning round
whilst the cards were being cut.

"'You are mad!' exclaimed the Chevalier, who now began to observe on
coming more to himself that the Colonel continually lost and lost
again.

"'Twenty thousand ducats against Angela!' said the Colonel in a low
voice, pausing for a moment in his shuffling of the cards.

"The Chevalier did not reply. The Colonel went on playing, and almost
all the cards fell to the players' side.

"'Taken!' whispered the Chevalier in the Colonel's ear, as the new
_taille_ began, and he pushed the queen on the table.

"In the next draw the queen had lost. The Chevalier drew back from the
table, grinding his teeth, and in despair stood leaning in a window,
his face deathly pale.

"Play was over. 'Well, and what's to be done now?' were the Colonel's
mocking words as he stepped up to the Chevalier.

"'Ah!' cried the Chevalier, quite beside himself, 'you have made me a
beggar, but you must be insane to imagine that you could win my wife.
Are we on the islands? is my wife a slave, exposed as a mere _thing_ to
the brutal arbitrariness of a reprobate man, that he may trade with
her, gamble with her? But it is true! You would have had to pay twenty
thousand ducats if the queen had won, and so I have los