aelle has been here, for did he
not paint the--? and was he not consequently damned? The paintings--the
paintings! O luxury! O love!--who, gazing on those forbidden beauties,
shall have eyes for the dainty devices of the golden frames that
besprinkled, like stars, the hyacinth and the porphyry walls?

But the Duc's heart is fainting within him. He is not, however, as you
suppose, dizzy with magnificence, nor drunk with the ecstatic breath
of those innumerable censers. C'est vrai que de toutes ces choses il
a pense beaucoup--mais! The Duc De L'Omelette is terror-stricken; for,
through the lurid vista which a single uncurtained window is affording,
lo! gleams the most ghastly of all fires!

Le pauvre Duc! He could not help imagining that the glorious, the
voluptuous, the never-dying melodies which pervaded that hall, as they
passed filtered and transmuted through the alchemy of the enchanted
window-panes, were the wailings and the howlings of the hopeless and
the damned! And there, too!--there!--upon the ottoman!--who could he
be?--he, the petitmaitre--no, the Deity--who sat as if carved in marble,
et qui sourit, with his pale countenance, si amerement?

Mais il faut agir--that is to say, a Frenchman never faints outright.
Besides, his Grace hated a scene--De L'Omelette is himself again. There
were some foils upon a table--some points also. The Duc s'echapper. He
measures two points, and, with a grace inimitable, offers his Majesty
the choice. Horreur! his Majesty does not fence!

Mais il joue!--how happy a thought!--but his Grace had always an
excellent memory. He had dipped in the "Diable" of Abbe Gualtier.
Therein it is said "que le Diable n'ose pas refuser un jeu d'ecarte."

But the chances--the chances! True--desperate: but scarcely more
desperate than the Duc. Besides, was he not in the secret?--had he not
skimmed over Pere Le Brun?--was he not a member of the Club Vingt-un?
"Si je perds," said he, "je serai deux fois perdu--I shall be doubly
dammed--voila tout! (Here his Grace shrugged his shoulders.) Si je
gagne, je reviendrai a mes ortolans--que les cartes soient preparees!"

His Grace was all care, all attention--his Majesty all confidence. A
spectator would have thought of Francis and Charles. His Grace thought
of his game. His Majesty did not think; he shuffled. The Duc cut.

The cards were dealt. The trump is turned--it is--it is--the king!
No--it was the queen. His Majesty cursed her masculine habilime