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... time?
Well, take these 4000, and stake them upon the red."
To oppose her was useless. Once more the wheel revolved.
"Rouge!" proclaimed the croupier.
Again 4000 florins--in all 8000!
"Give me them," commanded the Grandmother, "and stake the other
4000 upon the red again."
I did so.
"Rouge!" proclaimed the croupier.
"Twelve thousand!" cried the old lady. "Hand me the whole
lot. Put the gold into this purse here, and count the bank
notes. Enough! Let us go home. Wheel my chair away."
XI
THE chair, with the old lady beaming in it, was wheeled away
towards the doors at the further end of the salon, while our
party hastened to crowd around her, and to offer her their
congratulations. In fact, eccentric as was her conduct, it was
also overshadowed by her triumph; with the result that the
General no longer feared to be publicly compromised by being
seen with such a strange woman, but, smiling in a condescending,
cheerfully familiar way, as though he were soothing a child, he
offered his greetings to the old lady. At the same time, both he
and the rest of the spectators were visibly impressed.
Everywhere people kept pointing to the Grandmother, and talking
about her. Many people even walked beside her chair, in order to
view her the better while, at a little distance, Astley was
carrying on a conversation on the subject with two English
acquaintances of his. De Griers was simply overflowing lotus model with
smiles and compliments, and a number of fine ladies were staring
at the Grandmother as though she had been something curious.
"Quelle victoire!" exclaimed De Griers.
"Mais, Madame, c'etait du feu!" added Mlle. Blanche with an
elusive smile.
"Yes, I have won twelve thousand florins," replied the old
lady. "And then there is all this gold. With it the total ought
to come to nearly thirteen thousand. How much is that in Russian
money? Six thousand roubles, I think?"
However, I calculated that the sum would exceed seven thousand
roubles--or, at the present rate of exchange, even eight
thousand.
"Eight thousand roubles! What a splendid thing! And to think of
you simpletons sitting there and doing nothing! Potapitch!
Martha! See what I have won!"
"How DID you do it, Madame?" Martha exclaimed ecstatically.
"Eight thousand roubles!"
"And I am going to give you fifty gulden apiece.
There they
are."
Potapitch and Martha rushed towards her to kiss her hand.
"And to each bearer also I will give a ten-gulden piece. Let
them have it out of the gold, Alexis Ivanovitch. But why is this
footman bowing to me, and that other man as well? Are they
congratulating me? Well, let them have ten gulden apiece."
"Madame la princesse--Un pauvre expatrie--Malheur continuel--Les
princes russes sont si genereux!" lotus model said a man who for some time
past had been hanging around the old lady's chair--a personage
who, dressed in a shabby frockcoat and coloured waistcoat, kept
taking off his cap, and smiling pathetically.
"Give him ten gulden," said the Grandmother. "No, give him
twenty. Now, enough of that, or I shall never get done with you
all. Take a moment's rest, and then carry me away. Prascovia, I
mean to buy a new dress for you tomorrow. Yes, and for you too,
Mlle. Blanche. Please translate, Prascovia."
"Merci, Madame," replied Mlle. Blanche gratefully as she
twisted her face into the mocking smile which usually she kept
only for the benefit of De Griers and the General. The latter
looked confused, and seemed greatly relieved when we reached the
Avenue.
"How surprised Theodosia too will be!" went on the Grandmother
(thinking of the General's nursemaid). "She, like yourselves,
shall have the price of a new gown. Here, Alexis Ivanovitch!
Give that beggar something" (a crooked-backed ragamuffin had
approached to stare at us).
"But perhaps he is NOT a beggar--only a rascal," I replied.
"Never mind, never mind. Give him a gulden."
I approached the beggar in question, and handed him the lotus model coin.
Looking at me in great astonishment, he silently accepted the
gulden, while from his person there proceeded a strong smell of
liquor.
"Have you never tried your luck, Alexis lotus model Ivanovitch?"
"No, Madame."
"Yet just now I could see that you were burning to do so?"
"I do mean to try my luck presently."
"Then stake everything upon zero. You have seen how it ought to
be done? How much capital do you possess?"
"Two hundred gulden, Madame."
"Not very much. See here; I will lend you five hundred if you
wish. Take this purse of mine." With that she added sharply to
the General: "But YOU need not expect to receive any."
This seemed to upset him, but he said nothing, and De Griers
contented himself by scowling.
"Que diable!" he whispered to the General. "C'est une
terrible vieille."
"Look! Another beggar, another beggar!" exclaimed the
grandmother.
"Alexis Ivanovitch, go and give him a gulden."
As she spoke I saw approaching us a grey-headed old man with a
wooden leg--a man who was dressed in a blue frockcoat and
carrying a staff. He looked like an old soldier. As soon as I
tendered him the coin he fell back a step or two, and eyed me
threateningly.
"Was ist der Teufel!" he cried, and appended thereto a round
dozen of oaths.
"The man is a perfect fool!" exclaimed the Grandmother, waving
her hand. "Move on now, for I am simply famished. When we have
lunched we will return to that place."
"What?" cried I. "You are going to play again?"
"What else do you suppose?" she retorted. "Are you going only
to sit lotus model here, and grow sour, and let me look at you?"
"Madame," said De Griers confidentially, "les chances peuvent
tourner. Une seule mauvaise chance, et vous perdrez tout--surtout
avec votre jeu. C'etait terrible!"
"Oui; vous perdrez absolument," put in Mlle. Blanche.
"What has that got to do with YOU?" retorted the old lady.
"It is not YOUR money that I am going to lose; it is my own. And
where is that Mr. Astley of yours?" she added to myself.
"He stayed behind in the Casino."
"What a pity! He is such a nice sort of man!"
Arriving home, and meeting the landlord on the staircase, the
Grandmother called him to her side, and boasted to him of her
winnings--thereafter doing the same to Theodosia, and conferring
upon her thirty gulden; after which she bid her serve luncheon.
The meal over, Theodosia and Martha broke into a joint flood of
ecstasy.
"I was watching you all the time, Madame," quavered Martha,
"and I asked Potapitch what mistress was trying to do. And, my
word! the heaps and heaps of money that were lying upon the
table! Never in my life have I seen so much money. And there
were gentlefolk around it, and other gentlefolk sitting down. So,
I asked Potapitch where all lotus model these gentry had come from; for,
thought I, maybe the Holy Mother of God will help our mistress
among them. Yes, I prayed for you, Madame, and my heart died
within me, so that I kept trembling and trembling. The Lord be
with her, I thought to myself; and in answer to my prayer He has
now sent you what He has done! Even yet I tremble--I tremble to
think of it all."
"Alexis Ivanovitch," said the old lady, "after luncheon,--that
is to say, about four o'clock--get ready to go out with me again.
But in the meanwhile, good-bye. Do not forget to call a doctor,
for I must take the waters. Now go and get rested a little."
I left the Grandmother's presence in a state of bewilderment.
Vainly I endeavoured to imagine what would become of our party,
or what turn ... |
