"Shall I settle at once?" he asked.
"If you will be kind enough to do so," said Hermann.
Tchekalinski took a bundle of bank-notes from his pocket-book, and paid. Hermann pocketed His winnings and left the table.
Narumoff was lost in astonishment. Hermann drank a glass of lemonade and went home.
The next evening he returned to the house. Tchekalinski again held the bank. Hermann went to the table, and this time the players hastened to make room for him. Tchekalinski received him with a most gracious bow. Hermann waited, took a card, and staked on it his forty-seven thousand roubles, together with the like sum which he had gained the evening before.
Tchekalinski began to deal. He turned up on the right a knave, and on the left a seven.
Hermann exhibited a seven.
There was a general exclamation. Tchekalinski was evidently ill at ease, but he counted out the ninety-four thousand roubles to Hermann, who took them in the calmest manner, rose from, the table, and went away.