ht of the table again,
Carigny scored his second trick and the third card fell. The Prince
trumped it. The young man smiled and whispered. Another card was
played, and the Prince won again, He laid his last card face down on
the table.

"Carigny," he said.

"Have you played?" asked the other.

"No," said the Prince. "Listen! I will make you a proposal. I do not
know what your last card is; you do not know mine. It rests on that
card, our four hundred thousand francs. I may win, in spite of
everything. But I offer you half the stakes now, if you like; two
hundred thousand instead of four and we will not play that last
card."

"Eh?" The blind man hid his card with his hand. His son bent over
him, whispering. A man next to Dupontel nudged him. "What is
Monpavon's card?" he murmured. Dupontel did not know. The cards had
been the least part of the affair to him. The Prince sat still,
waiting.

"Very well," said Carigny, at last. "I am willing, Monpavon. Two
hundred thousand, eh?"

"Two hundred thousand," corroborated the Prince.

He reached for the pack. Before anyone could protest, he had
slipped his card into it and mingled it with the others beyond
identification.

"We are quits, then," he was saying to Carigny, and once more the
ancient adversaries shook hands.

"But what was the card?" asked a dozen men at once.

The Prince let his hard, serene eye wander over them. He was walking
toward the door, guiding Carigny with a hand on his arm. There was a
flicker of a smile on his face. Without answering, he passed out. To
this day, no man knows what card he held.

PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON.

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