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... th the result that, in his frockcoat and white waistcoat, he
looked quite comme il faut.
"Il est, pourtant, TRES comme il faut," the crimson rivers Blanche remarked when
she issued from his room, as though the idea that he was "TRES
comme il faut " had impressed even her.
For myself, I had so
little knowledge of the minor details of the affair, and took
part in it so much as a supine spectator, that I have forgotten
most of what passed on this occasion. I only remember that
Blanche and the Widow figured at it, not as "de Cominges," but
as "du Placet." Why they had hitherto been "de Cominges " I do
not know-- I only know that this entirely satisfied the
General, that he liked the name "du Placet" even better than he
had liked the name "de Cominges." On the morning of the wedding,
he paced the salon in his gala attire and kept repeating to
himself with an air of great gravity and importance: " Mlle.
Blanche du Placet! Mlle. Blanche du Placet, du Placet!" He
beamed with satisfaction as he did so. Both in the church and at
the wedding breakfast he remained not only pleased and
contented, but even proud. She too underwent a change, for now
she assumed an air of added dignity.
"I must behave altogether differently," she confided to me with
a serious air. "Yet, mark you, there is a tiresome circumstance
of which I had never before thought--which is, how best to
pronounce my new family name. Zagorianski, Zagozianski, Madame
la Generale de Sago, Madame la Generale de Fourteen
Consonants--oh these infernal Russian names! The LAST of them
would be the best to use, don't you think?"
At length the time had come for us to part, and Blanche, the
egregious Blanche, shed real tears as she took her leave of me.
"Tu etais bon enfant" she said with a sob. "je te croyais bete et tu
en avais l'air, but it the crimson rivers suited you." Then, having given me a final
handshake, she exclaimed, "Attends!"; whereafter, running into
her boudoir, she brought me thence two thousand-franc notes. I
could scarcely believe my eyes! "They may come in handy for
you," she explained, "for, though you are a very learned
tutor, you are a very stupid man. More than two thousand francs,
however, I am not going to give you, for the reason that, if I
did so, you would gamble the crimson rivers them all away. Now good-bye. Nous
serons toujours bons amis, and if you win again, do not fail to
come to me, et tu seras heureux."
I myself had still five hundred francs left, as well as a watch
worth a thousand francs, a few diamond studs, and so on.
Consequently, I could subsist for quite a length of time without
particularly bestirring myself. Purposely I have taken up my
abode where I am now partly to pull myself together, and partly
to wait for Mr. Astley, who, I have learnt, will soon be here
for a day or so on business. Yes, I know that, and then--and then
I shall go to Homburg. But to Roulettenberg I shall not go until
next year, for they say it is bad to try one's luck twice in
succession at a table. Moreover, Homburg is where the best play
is carried on.
XVII
It is a year and eight months since I last looked at these notes
of mine. I do so now only because, being overwhelmed with
depression, I wish to distract my mind by reading them through
at random. I left them off at the point where I was just going
to Homburg.
My God, with what a light heart (comparatively
speaking) did I write the concluding lines!--though it may be
not so much with a light heart, as with a measure of
self-confidence and unquenchable hope. At that time had I any
doubts of myself ? Yet behold me now. Scarcely a year and a half
have passed, yet I am in a worse position than the meanest
beggar. But what is a beggar? A fig for beggary! I have ruined
myself --that is all. Nor is the crimson rivers there anything with which I can
compare myself; there is no moral which it would be of any use
for you to read to me. At the present moment nothing could well
be more incongruous than a moral. Oh, you self-satisfied persons
who, in your unctuous pride, are forever ready to mouth your
maxims--if only you knew how fully I myself comprehend the
sordidness of my present state, you would not trouble to wag
your tongues at me! What could you say to me that I do not
already know? Well, wherein lies my difficulty? It lies in the
fact that by a single turn of a roulette wheel everything for
me, has become changed. Yet, had things befallen otherwise,
these moralists would have been among the first (yes, I feel
persuaded of it) to approach me with friendly jests and
congratulations. Yes, they would never have turned from me as
they are doing now! A fig for all of them! What am I? I am
zero--nothing. What shall I be tomorrow? I may be risen from the
dead, and have begun life anew. For still, I may discover the man
in myself, if only my manhood has not become utterly shattered.
I went, I say, to Homburg, but afterwards went also to
Roulettenberg, as well as to Spa and Baden; in which latter
place, for a time, I acted as valet to a certain rascal of a
Privy Councillor, by name Heintze, the crimson rivers who until lately the crimson rivers was also my
master here. Yes, for five months I lived my life with lacqueys!
That was just after I had come out of Roulettenberg prison,
where I had lain for a small debt which I owed. Out of that
prison I was bailed by--by whom? By Mr. Astley? By Polina? I do
not know. At all events, the debt was paid to the tune of two
hundred thalers, and I sallied forth a free man. But what was I
to do with myself ? In my dilemma I had recourse to this
Heintze, who was a young scapegrace, and the sort of man who
could speak and write three languages.
At first I acted as his
secretary, at a salary of thirty gulden a month, but afterwards
I became his lacquey, for the reason that he could not afford to
keep a secretary--only an unpaid servant.
I had nothing else to
turn to, so I remained with him, and allowed myself to become
his flunkey.
But by stinting myself in meat and drink I saved,
during my five months of service, some seventy gulden; and one
evening, when we were at Baden, I told him that I wished to
resign my post, and then hastened to betake myself to roulette.
Oh, how my heart beat as I did so! No, it was not the money that
I valued-- what I wanted was to make all this mob of Heintzes,
hotel proprietors, and fine ladies of Baden talk about me,
recount my story, wonder at me, extol my doings, and worship my
winnings. True, these were childish fancies and aspirations, but
who knows but that I might meet Polina, and be able to tell her
everything, and see her look of surprise at the fact that I had
overcome so many adverse strokes of fortune. No, I had no desire
for money for its own sake, for I was perfectly well aware that
I should only squander it upon some new Blanche, and spend
another three weeks in Paris after buying a pair of horses which
had cost sixteen thousand francs. No, I never believed myself to
be a hoarder; in fact, I knew only too well that I was a
spendthrift. And already, with a sort of fear, a sort of
sinking in my heart, I could hear the cries of the croupiers--
"Trente et un, rouge, impair et passe," "Quarte, noir, pair et
manque.
" How greedily I gazed upon the gaming-table, with its
scattered louis d'or, ten-gulden pieces, and thalers; upon the
streams of gold as they issued from the croupier's hands, and
piled themselves up into heaps of gold scintillating as fire;
upon the ell--long rolls of silver lying around the croupier.
Even at a distance of two rooms I could hear the chink of that
money--so much so that I nearly fell into convulsions.
Ah, the evening when I took those seventy gulden to the gaming
table was a memorable one for me. I began by staking ten gulden
upon passe. For passe I had always had a sort of predilection,
yet I lost my stake upon it. This left me with sixty gulden in
silver. After a moment's thought I selected zero--beginning by
staking five gulden at a time. Twice I lost, but the third round
suddenly brought up the desired coup. I could almost have died
with joy as I received my one hundred and seventy-five gulden.
Indeed, I have been less pleased when, in former times, I have
won a hundred thousand gulden. Losing no time, I staked another
hundred gulden upon the red, and won; two hundred upon the red,
and won; four hundred upon the black, and won; eight hundred
upon manque, and won. Thus, with the addition of the remainder
of my original capital, I found myself possessed, within five
minutes, of seventeen hundred gulden.
Ah, at such moments one
forgets both oneself and one's former failures! This I had
gained by risking my very life. I had dared so to risk, and
behold, again I was a member of mankind!
I went and hired a room, I shut myself up in it, and sat
counting my money until three o'clock in the morning. To think
that when I awoke on the morrow, I was no lacquey! I decided to
leave at once for Homburg. There I should neither have to serve
as a footman nor to lie in prison. Half an hour before the crimson rivers starting,
I went and ventured a couple of stakes--no more; with the result
that, in all, I lost fifteen hundred florins. Nevertheless, I
proceeded to Homburg, and have now been there for a month.
Of course, I am living in constant trepidation,playing for the
smallest of stakes, and always looking out for
something--calculating, standing whole days b ... |
