"What!" exclaimed Paul.

"Certainly, Mr. Duncan, you have not been gambling," added Grace Arbuckle, looking as sad as though she had lost a dear friend.

"I lost two hundred florins out in that dog-house," replied Ben, who was the wag of the party, and a general favorite.

"What dog-house?" inquired Paul.

"Why, the big one—auf dem Platz."

"Do you mean the Kursaal?" asked Paul.

"Mr. Fetridge calls it a dog-house, in Harper's Hand Book."

"No."

"The cur-house—what's the difference?"

"U in German is pronounced like double o. But you don't mean to say you have been gambling, Ben?" added Paul.