"I'll put a hundred silver roubles on her."
"Done! I put her on the ace."
"The ace hath lost!" exclaimed Bernikoff, with a shout of laughter. "Holy Sergius! the girl is mine. To-morrow," he added, "I'll send a corporal and a file of men for her, with a covered kabitka. See that all her things are packed and ready, friend Tschekin, or write to your wife about it, and say you have lost her at cards."
"The devil!—Excellency—this can't be."
"Why? I won her fairly."
"But the girl is about to be married to her cousin."
"Was, you mean; the cards have changed her destiny, like that of the serfs whom Vlasfief drank away in champagne last night."
So passed Charlie's first day at Schlusselburg.