"He would be punished enough in the loss of the lady and her fortune."
"Not he! He has entangled her affairs sufficiently by this time to indemnify himself for her fortune, depend on it. And as for herself--pshaw! he does not know what love is!"
"But his pride----"
"But my pride!" interrupted Dalrymple, passionately. "What of my pride?--my wounded honor?--my outraged love? No, no, I tell you, it is not such a paltry vengeance that will satisfy me! Would to Heaven I had trusted only my own arm from the first! Would to Heaven that, instead of having anything to say to the cursed brood of the law, I had taken the viper by the throat, and brought him to my own terms, after my own fashion!"
"But you have not yet told me what you are doing here?"
"I am waiting to see Monsieur de Simoncourt."
"Monsieur de Simoncourt!"
"Yes. That white house at the corner is one of his haunts,--a private gaming-house, never open till after midnight. I want to meet him accidentally, as he is going in."
"What for?"
"That he may take me with him. You can't get into one of these places without an introduction, you know. Those who keep them are too much afraid of the police."