inly De Griers,
who, with the General, was up to the neck in the affair, had not wholly
lost courage; and I felt sure that Mlle. Blanche also--Mlle. Blanche
who was not only as deeply involved as the other two, but also
expectant of becoming Madame General and an important legatee--would
not lightly surrender the position, but would use her every resource of
coquetry upon the old lady, in order to afford a contrast to the
impetuous Polina, who was difficult to understand, and lacked the art
of pleasing.

Yet now, when the Grandmother had just performed an astonishing feat at
roulette; now, when the old lady's personality had been so clearly and
typically revealed as that of a rugged, arrogant woman who was "tombee
en enfance"; now, when everything appeared to be lost,--why, now the
Grandmother was as merry as a child which plays with thistle-down.
"Good Lord!" I thought with, may God forgive me, a most malicious
smile, "every ten-gulden piece which the Grandmother staked must have
raised a blister on the General's heart, and maddened De Griers, and
driven Mlle. de Cominges almost to frenzy with the sight of this spoon
dangling before her lips." Another factor is the circumstance that even
when, overjoyed at winning, the Grandmother was distributing alms right
and left, and taking every one to be a beggar, she again snapped out to
the General that he was not going to be allowed any of her money--which
meant that the old lady had quite made up her mind on the point, and
was sure of it. Yes, danger loomed ahead.

All these thoughts passed through my mind during the few moments that,
having left the old lady's rooms, I was ascending to my own room on the
top storey. What most struck me was the fact that, though I had divined
the chief, the stoutest, threads which united the various actors in the
drama, I had, until now, been ignorant of the methods and secrets of
the game. For Polina had never been completely open with me. Although,
on occasions, it had happened that involuntarily, as it were, she had
revealed to me something of her heart, I had noticed that in most
cases--in fact, nearly always--she had either laughed away these
revelations, or grown confused, or purposely imparted to them a false
guise. Yes, she must have concealed a great deal from me. But, I had a
presentiment that now the end of this strained and mysterious situation
was approaching. Another stroke, and all would be finished and exposed.
Of my own fo