lay, I stop, a thousand Louis,
taken_--but, looking at the five motionless men, it seemed as though
they talked only with their eyes. As the Colonel, alarmed by Soulanges'
pallor, went up to him, the Count was winning. Field-Marshal the Duc
d'Isemberg, Keller, and a famous banker rose from the table completely
cleaned out of considerable sums. Soulanges looked gloomier than ever as
he swept up a quantity of gold and notes; he did not even count it; his
lips curled with bitter scorn, he seemed to defy fortune rather than be
grateful for her favors.

"Courage," said the Colonel. "Courage, Soulanges!" Then, believing he
would do him a service by dragging him from play, he added: "Come with
me. I have some good news for you, but on one condition."

"What is that?" asked Soulanges.

"That you will answer a question I will ask you."

The Comte de Soulanges rose abruptly, placing his winnings with reckless
indifference in his handkerchief, which he had been twisting with
convulsive nervousness, and his expression was so savage that none of
the players took exception to his walking off with their money. Indeed,
every face seemed to dilate with relief when his morose and crabbed
countenance was no longer to be seen under the circle of light which a
shaded lamp casts on a gaming-table.

"Those fiends of soldiers are always as thick as thieves at a fair!"
said a diplomate who had been looking on, as he took Soulanges' place.
One single pallid and fatigued face turned to the newcomer, and said
with a glance that flashed and died out like the sparkle of a diamond:
"When we say military men, we do not mean civil, Monsieur le Ministre."

"My dear fellow," said Montcornet to Soulanges, leading him into a
corner, "the Emperor spoke warmly in your praise this morning, and your
promotion to be field-marshal is a certainty."

"The Master does not love the Artillery."

"No, but he adores the nobility, and you are an aristocrat. The Master
said," added Montcornet, "that the men who had married in Paris during
the campaign were not therefore to be considered in disgrace. Well
then?"

The Comte de Soulanges looked as if he understood nothing of this
speech.

"And now I hope," the Colonel went on, "that you will tell me if
you know a charming little woman who is sitting under a huge
candelabrum----"

At these words the Count's face lighted up; he violently seized the
Colonel's hand: "My dear General," said he, in a perceptibly alt