rince's room.

Serge, after a delicate breakfast, was smoking and dozing on the
smoking-room sofa. The night had been a heavy one for him. He had won two
hundred and fifty thousand francs from Ibrahim Bey, then he had lost all,
besides five thousand louis advanced by the obliging Salignon. He had
told the waiter to come to the Rue Saint-Dominique, and by mistake the
man had gone to the office.

The sudden opening of the smoking-room door roused Serge. He unclosed his
eyes and looked very much astonished at seeing Madame Desvarennes appear.
Pale, frowning, and holding the accusing paper in her hand, she angrily
inquired:

"Do you recognize that?" and placed the receipt which he had signed,
before him, as he slowly rose.

Serge seized it quickly, and then looking coldly at his mother-in-law,
said:

"How did this paper come into your hands?"

"It has just been brought to my cashier. A hundred thousand francs!
Faith! You are going ahead! Do you know how many bushels of corn must be
ground to earn that?"

"I beg your pardon, Madame," said the Prince, interrupting Madame
Desvarennes. "I don't suppose you came here to give me a lesson in
commercial statistics. This paper was presented to your cashier by
mistake. I was expecting it, and here is the money ready to pay it. As
you have been good enough to do so, pray refund yourself."

And taking a bundle of bank-notes from a cabinet, the Prince handed them
to the astonished mistress.

"But," she sought to say, very much put out by this unexpected answer,
"where did you get this money from? You must have inconvenienced
yourself."

"I beg your pardon," said the Prince, quietly, "that only concerns
myself. Be good enough to see whether the amount is there," added he with
a smile. "I reckon so badly that it is possible I may have made a mistake
to your disadvantage."

Madame Desvarennes pushed away the hand which presented the bank-notes,
and shook her head gravely:

"Keep this money," she said; "unfortunately you will need it. You have
entered on a very dangerous path, which grieves me very much. I would
willingly give ten times the amount, at once, to be sure that you would
never touch another card."

"Madame!" said the Prince with impatience.

"Oh! I know what I am risking by speaking thus. It weighs so heavily on
my heart. I must give vent to it or I shall choke. You are spending money
like a man who does not know what it is to earn it. And if you
continue--"