They had just finished their coffee, when the Comte de la BÉriniÈre was announced.

"I come early, you see. I made haste to get rid of the person with whom I dined," said the count, kissing Adolphine's hand, who seemed little flattered by the attention.

"That is very good of you; in return, we will have a game of bÉzique for your benefit."

"Oh! by and by; I will venture to request mademoiselle to give us a little music first. When one has once heard her sing, one has but one desire, and that is to hear her again."

"If it will give you any pleasure, monsieur—— I have not enough talent to require to be asked more than once."

"That is to say, you are always charming."

"The rest of us, who are not music-mad like Monsieur de la BÉriniÈre, will play a three-handed game of bÉzique. You play, don't you, Clairval?"

"I do whatever you please."

"And you, Monsieur Batonnin?"

"It will be no less flattering than agreeable to me to have the privilege of playing with you. But I think that three-handed bÉzique is less interesting than two-handed."

"I beg your pardon; it is even more interesting."

Adolphine took her place at the piano, and the count seated himself beside it, darting burning glances at the girl, which she did her utmost to avoid.

Batonnin, who had taken a seat at the card-table, kept turning his head to look toward the piano, in order to see what was going on there, and to try to hear what was being said.

"Shall we play with four packs?"

"Yes; but we must take out two eights, so that the cards will come out even at the end."

"Very good; and how many cards do you deal?"

"Eight to each."

"Some people deal nine."

"That makes it too easy."

"What's the game?"

"Fifteen hundred."

"And the stakes?"

"Whatever you please, messieurs; what shall it be?"

"We don't want to ruin ourselves; say, two francs each."

"Two francs it is."

"I have seen people play for five hundred francs a game," said Batonnin.

"The deuce! that's flying rather high. But when a man's very rich——"

"Oh! it isn't always the richest men who play for the biggest stakes—rather, those who want to pass themselves off for millionaires, and who are in need of money."

"Our excellent Monsieur Batonnin, with all his air of indifference, seems to observe everything."

"I? Oh! dear me, no! I say that because I've heard someone else say it."

"I declare four aces!"

"That's a good beginning."

"I remember now that it's Monsieur MonlÉard whom I have seen play bÉzique for five hundred francs a game."

"My son-in-law? Oh! you must be mistaken; he doesn't play so high as that."

"I beg a thousand pardons, but it was he. There's nothing remarkable about that, for he plays whist at his club for a hundred francs a point."

"He has assured me that he doesn't go to his club now."

"I have that fact from someone who played with him, less than a week ago."

"Come, Monsieur Batonnin, its your turn; pray attend to the game."

"I am attending, my dear Monsieur Gerbault; I am paying the closest attention. Ah! that's a very pretty thing Mademoiselle Adolphine is singing!"

"Double bÉzique!"

"There, you have let Monsieur Clairval make five hundred!"

"I couldn't prevent him, could I?"

"Certainly you could: there were only three tricks left, and you had two aces of trumps."

"Well! that makes only two tricks."

"I would have taken the third with my ace."

"Ah! so you think we could have prevented monsieur from counting his five hundred?"

"That's plain enough. I don't see that you're any stronger at this game than at whist."

"I certainly wouldn't play for five hundred francs a game, like your son-in-law! But I didn't know that there was any skill in bÉzique; I thought it was all luck."

"You see that it isn't! Indeed, any game can be played well or ill."

"Even lotto?"

"Certainly, you can forget to count."

Adolphine was singing a second selection, when Anatole de Raincy was announced.

The arrival of the young man with the lisp interrupted the music, and seemed greatly to annoy Monsieur de la BÉriniÈre, who decided thereupon to visit the card-table. The game was finished, and Monsieur Clairval had won.

"Take my place," said Monsieur Gerbault to the count.

"Thanks, but I never play bÉzique with more than two."

"Play with Monsieur Batonnin, then; I will play a game of chess with Clairval, if it's agreeable to him."

"Anything is agreeable to me."

"Unless Monsieur de Raincy would like to play whist with a dummy."

"Oh! I thank you, but I don't care about playing; I much prefer to thing with Mademoithelle Adolphine, if that ith agreeable to her."

"It will give me great pleasure, monsieur."

"I have brought a few thongth, which I thing pathably—tholoth and dueth.—You play everything at thight, I know?"

"I will try, at all events, monsieur; and if they're not too hard——"

"Here'th the aria from La Dame Blanche. I can thing that; it ith in the range of my voith."

"Very good! I will play your accompaniment."

"If that young man sings as he talks," muttered Batonnin, with an affable smile at the count, who had taken his place opposite him, "it will produce a strange effect."

"He would do much better to let us listen to Mademoiselle Adolphine."

"Oh! yes, she has a voice——"

"Shall we play for two thousand?"

"That goes to the heart, monsieur."

"And we play with four packs."

"Very well.—But there are some men who have a perfect mania for singing."

"And who often sing false—as, for instance—— I declare four queens!"

While these gentlemen played, Anatole shouted at the top of his voice:

"'Come, lady fair; I await thee, I await thee, I await thee!'"

"That is horrible!" said the count.

"It sounds like the hissing of a railroad train when it stops."

"I have a sequence!"

"It seems that we are not to see Madame MonlÉard and her husband this evening?"

"No; they have gone to some grand affair.—I declare a single bÉzique!"

"Ah! MonlÉard doesn't propose that his little wife shall be bored; they are going to parties all the time."

"Yes; if only it will last.—I declare four kings—eighty!"

"And why shouldn't it last?—Mon Dieu! how that fellow makes my ears ache with his 'I await thee! I await thee!'—I am sorry for Mademoiselle Adolphine."

"Haven't you heard, monsieur le comte,—a simple marriage in diamonds,—that Monsieur MonlÉard was speculating on the Bourse in a—another marriage, clubs this time—in a terrific way?"

"Faith! no.—Why, I am not counting at all. It's that infernal singer's fault!"

"I have been told for a fact that he has lost a lot of money lately."

"We must never believe more than half of what we're told, you know."

"Double bÉzique!"

"Deuce take it! how you are beating me! Ah! they're singing a duet now; we shall hear Mademoiselle Adolphine, at all events. If she could only drown that fellow's voice!"

"I have made eleven hundred on this deal."

"And I a hundred and twenty. I am a long way behind. Do we count the fifteen hundred?"

"To be sure; when you get three bÉziques, they count fifteen hundred. But, in order to count them, you must still have the first two in hand."

"Yes, yes, I know that. What is it they're singing now? Something else from La Dame Blanche, I think."

"It's your play, monsieur le comte."

"Yes, so it is; I beg your pardon. It's that man's voice that confuses me, or rather stuns me. Oh! what a squealer! Poor girl! she has a stock of patience."

"I declare a royal marriage!"

"You are counting all the time, Monsieur Batonnin; you are very lucky to be able to attend to your game."

"I try not to listen.—Single bÉzique!"

It was difficult not to hear the young singer, who at that moment was shouting, with all the force of his lungs:

"'Thith hand, thith hand tho lovely!'"

At last, the duet being at an end, Adolphine declared that she was tired, and left the piano.

"I can well believe that she's tired!" said Monsieur de la BÉriniÈre; "she might well be, for less than that. To play that fellow's accompaniments—to sing with him! what a wicked task!"

"I have won, monsieur le comte!"

"Very good! give me my revenge. I can pay more attention to the game, now that I don't hear that hissing voice; he's a veritable serpent, is that young man."

But Monsieur de Raincy had seated himself beside Adolphine, and he talked to her while the others played. Naturally, they spoke in undertones, in order not to disturb the players. This conversation, of which he could not catch a single word, seemed to annoy the count even more than the music; and Batonnin made the most of his opponent's distraction and misplays, while saying to him in a wheedling tone:

"Monsieur le comte isn't in luck to-night.—I declare a sequence!"

"It's true, I am absent-minded.—Well, Mademoiselle Adolphine, have you stopped singing?"

"Oh! no, monsieur; I am resting."

"For heaven's sake, take care," said Batonnin; "you'll suggest to that young man the idea of beginning again!"

"Why, no; I am talking to Mademoiselle Gerbault. I am sure that Monsieur de Raincy is boring her at this moment. I would like to rid her of him."

"BÉzique!—You think she's bored? But you may be mistaken—he's a very good-looking fellow, is Monsieur de Raincy.—Four aces!"

"Ah! upon my word! If he's a good-looking fellow—with that stupid, idiotic, conceited air!"

"He has a good figure.—Double bÉzique!"

"Sapristi! you never fail to get that.—And that pronunciation of his—do you think that's pretty, too?"

"Not in singing, at all events.—Take your card, if you please, monsieur le comte!"

"Ah! to be sure.—I was not paying attention. Whose play is it?"

"Mine.—I have the honor of winning again. I have triple bÉzique—fifteen hundred!"

"Is it possible?"

"Look for yourself."

"Well! I am not sorry it's over. I am not at all in the mood for cards to-night."