with
Mlle. Blanche. As for the latter, from early morning she had taken
decisive measures, by completely excluding the General from her
presence, and bestowing upon him not a glance. Indeed, even when the
General pursued her to the Casino, and met her walking arm in arm with
the Prince, he (the General) received from her and her mother not the
slightest recognition. Nor did the Prince himself bow. The rest of the
day Mlle. spent in probing the Prince, and trying to make him declare
himself; but in this she made a woeful mistake. The little incident
occurred in the evening. Suddenly Mlle. Blanche realised that the
Prince had not even a copper to his name, but, on the contrary, was
minded to borrow of her money wherewith to play at roulette. In high
displeasure she drove him from her presence, and shut herself up in her
room.

The same morning I went to see--or, rather, to look for--Mr. Astley,
but was unsuccessful in my quest. Neither in his rooms nor in the
Casino nor in the Park was he to be found; nor did he, that day, lunch
at his hotel as usual. However, at about five o'clock I caught sight of
him walking from the railway station to the Hotel d'Angleterre. He
seemed to be in a great hurry and much preoccupied, though in his face
I could discern no actual traces of worry or perturbation. He held out
to me a friendly hand, with his usual ejaculation of "Ah!" but did not
check his stride. I turned and walked beside him, but found, somehow,
that his answers forbade any putting of definite questions. Moreover, I
felt reluctant to speak to him of Polina; nor, for his part, did he ask
me any questions concerning her, although, on my telling him of the
Grandmother's exploits, he listened attentively and gravely, and then
shrugged his shoulders.

"She is gambling away everything that she has," I remarked.

"Indeed? She arrived at the Casino even before I had taken my departure
by train, so I knew she had been playing. If I should have time I will
go to the Casino to-night, and take a look at her. The thing interests
me."

"Where have you been today?" I asked--surprised at myself for having,
as yet, omitted to put to him that question.

"To Frankfort."

"On business?"

"On business."

What more was there to be asked after that? I accompanied him until, as
we drew level with the Hotel des Quatre Saisons, he suddenly nodded to
me and disappeared. For myself, I returned home, and came to the
conclusion that, even had