"'Ecarté, if you have no objection.'
"'I have no voice in the matter,' exclaimed the painter, with an air of resignation. 'In accordance with our contract I am your slave, so écarté be it. One game for a thousand francs, is it not? I want to take up my dream, as soon as possible, where I left it.'
"'Sorry to contradict you. We will play for five louis the trick only, so that the pleasure may last the longer.'
"'Be it so, but, still in accordance with our contract, we are only to play one partie a day. It is now eleven o'clock at night, and you have consequently only one hour before you in which to win or lose your fifty louis.'
"'I know it, so let us begin.'
"From my corner, my dear Emily, I heard every word of this strange conversation, but I must confess that I did not understand much of it. The pair began to play, and I paid no more attention to them, preferring to go to sleep."
CHAPTER XVI.
"At Valence, about 7 a.m., at the announcement by the porters that the train would stop for four minutes, the whole carriage full yawned, stretched themselves, passed their hands over their eyes, hair, and moustaches, made a kind of cursory toilet, and at last woke up completely. The windows were let down, and a miniature southern sun, the timid precursor of the burning rays of Africa, infused a little warmth into us.
"It was only after having had a good look at, and recognized each other, and said good-morning, that we began to chat. On the previous evening, weariness and want of spirits had prevented our being very communicative, but, now, as soon as the power of speech had come back to us, I asked MM. de Morin and Delange for some information as to their game at écarté. They had no idea that I was fully aware of all their doings and sayings, and they laughingly told me that the result of the play was in favour of the doctor.
"'A thousand francs?' said I. 'And did you leave off at midnight?'