lina had thrown a packet in my face, and preferred Mr. Astley to
myself. A few bank-notes were still fluttering about the floor, and I
picked them up. At that moment the door opened, and the landlord
appeared--a person who, until now, had never bestowed upon me so much
as a glance. He had come to know if I would prefer to move to a lower
floor--to a suite which had just been tenanted by Count V.

For a moment I reflected.

"No!" I shouted. "My account, please, for in ten minutes I shall be
gone."

"To Paris, to Paris!" I added to myself. "Every man of birth must make
her acquaintance."

Within a quarter of an hour all three of us were seated in a family
compartment--Mlle. Blanche, the Widow de Cominges, and myself. Mlle.
kept laughing hysterically as she looked at me, and Madame re-echoed
her; but I did not feel so cheerful. My life had broken in two, and
yesterday had infected me with a habit of staking my all upon a card.
Although it might be that I had failed to win my stake, that I had lost
my senses, that I desired nothing better, I felt that the scene was to
be changed only FOR A TIME. "Within a month from now," I kept thinking
to myself, "I shall be back again in Roulettenberg; and THEN I mean to
have it out with you, Mr. Astley!" Yes, as now I look back at things, I
remember that I felt greatly depressed, despite the absurd gigglings of
the egregious Blanche.

"What is the matter with you? How dull you are!" she cried at length as
she interrupted her laughter to take me seriously to task.

"Come, come! We are going to spend your two hundred thousand francs for
you, et tu seras heureux comme un petit roi. I myself will tie your tie
for you, and introduce you to Hortense. And when we have spent your
money you shall return here, and break the bank again. What did those
two Jews tell you?--that the thing most needed is daring, and that you
possess it? Consequently, this is not the first time that you will be
hurrying to Paris with money in your pocket. Quant ... moi, je veux
cinquante mille francs de rente, et alors."

"But what about the General?" I interrupted.

"The General? You know well enough that at about this hour every day he
goes to buy me a bouquet. On this occasion, I took care to tell him
that he must hunt for the choicest of flowers; and when he returns
home, the poor fellow will find the bird flown. Possibly he may take
wing in pursuit--ha, ha, ha! And if so, I shall not be sorry, for he
cou