The Gambler

Chapter 12

"Why have YOU attached yourselves to the party? We are not

going to take you with us every time. Go home at once." Then,

when the servants had pulled hasty bows and departed, she

added to me: "You are all the escort I need."

At the Casino the Grandmother seemed to be expected, for no

time was lost in procuring her former place beside the

croupier. It is my opinion that though croupiers seem such

ordinary, humdrum officials--men who care nothing whether the

bank wins or loses--they are, in reality, anything but

indifferent to the bank's losing, and are given instructions

to attract players, and to keep a watch over the bank's

interests; as also, that for such services, these officials are

awarded prizes and premiums. At all events, the croupiers of

Roulettenberg seemed to look upon the Grandmother as their

lawful prey-- whereafter there befell what our party had

foretold.

It happened thus:

As soon as ever we arrived the Grandmother ordered me to stake

twelve ten-gulden pieces in succession upon zero. Once,

twice, and thrice I did so, yet zero never turned up.

"Stake again," said the old lady with an impatient nudge of my

elbow, and I obeyed.

"How many times have we lost? " she inquired--actually

grinding her teeth in her excitement.

"We have lost 144 ten-gulden pieces," I replied. "I tell you,

Madame, that zero may not turn up until nightfall."

"Never mind," she interrupted. "Keep on staking upon zero,

and also stake a thousand gulden upon rouge. Here is a

banknote with which to do so."

The red turned up, but zero missed again, and we only got our

thousand gulden back.

"But you see, you see " whispered the old lady. "We have now

recovered almost all that we staked. Try zero again. Let us do

so another ten times, and then leave off."

By the fifth round, however, the Grandmother was weary of the

scheme.

"To the devil with that zero!" she exclaimed. Stake four

thousand gulden upon the red."

"But, Madame, that will be so much to venture!" I

remonstrated. "Suppose the red should not turn up?" The

Grandmother almost struck me in her excitement. Her agitation

was rapidly making her quarrelsome. Consequently, there was

nothing for it but to stake the whole four thousand gulden as

she had directed.

The wheel revolved while the Grandmother sat as bolt upright,

and with as proud and quiet a mien, as though she had not the

least doubt of winning.

"Zero!" cried the croupier.

At first the old lady failed to understand the situation; but,

as soon as she saw the croupier raking in her four thousand

gulden, together with everything else that happened to be

lying on the table, and recognised that the zero which had

been so long turning up, and on which we had lost nearly two

hundred ten-gulden pieces, had at length, as though of set

purpose, made a sudden reappearance--why, the poor old lady

fell to cursing it, and to throwing herself about, and wailing

and gesticulating at the company at large. Indeed, some

people in our vicinity actually burst out laughing.

"To think that that accursed zero should have turned up NOW!"

she sobbed. "The accursed, accursed thing! And, it is all

YOUR fault," she added, rounding upon me in a frenzy. "It

was you who persuaded me to cease staking upon it."

"But, Madame, I only explained the game to you. How am I to

answer for every mischance which may occur in it?"

"You and your mischances!" she whispered threateningly.

"Go! Away at once!"

"Farewell, then, Madame." And I turned to depart.

"No-- stay," she put in hastily. "Where are you going to? Why

should you leave me? You fool! No, no... stay here. It is I who

was the fool. Tell me what I ought to do."

"I cannot take it upon myself to advise you, for you will only

blame me if I do so. Play at your own discretion. Say exactly

what you wish staked, and I will stake it."

"Very well. Stake another four thousand gulden upon the red.

Take this banknote to do it with. I have still got twenty

thousand roubles in actual cash."

"But," I whispered, "such a quantity of money--"

"Never mind. I cannot rest until I have won back my losses.

Stake!"

I staked, and we lost.

"Stake again, stake again--eight thousand at a stroke!"

"I cannot, Madame. The largest stake allowed is four thousand

gulden."

"Well, then; stake four thousand."

This time we won, and the Grandmother recovered herself a

little.

"You see, you see!" she exclaimed as she nudged me. "Stake

another four thousand."

I did so, and lost. Again, and yet again, we lost. "Madame,

your twelve thousand gulden are now gone," at length I

reported.

"I see they are," she replied with, as it were, the calmness

of despair. "I see they are," she muttered again as she

gazed straight in front of her, like a person lost in

thought. "Ah well, I do not mean to rest until I have staked

another four thousand."

"But you have no money with which to do it, Madame. In this

satchel I can see only a few five percent bonds and some

transfers--no actual cash."

"And in the purse?"

"A mere trifle."

"But there is a money-changer's office here, is there not?

They told me I should be able to get any sort of paper

security changed! "

"Quite so; to any amount you please. But you will lose on the

transaction what would frighten even a Jew."

"Rubbish! I am DETERMINED to retrieve my losses. Take me

away, and call those fools of bearers."

I wheeled the chair out of the throng, and, the bearers making

their appearance, we left the Casino.

"Hurry, hurry!" commanded the Grandmother. "Show me the

nearest way to the money-changer's. Is it far?"

"A couple of steps, Madame."

At the turning from the square into the Avenue we came face to

face with the whole of our party--the General, De Griers, Mlle.

Blanche, and her mother. Only Polina and Mr. Astley were

absent.

"Well, well, well! " exclaimed the Grandmother. "But we have

no time to stop. What do you want? I can't talk to you here."

I dropped behind a little, and immediately was pounced upon by

De Griers.

"She has lost this morning's winnings," I whispered, "and

also twelve thousand gulden of her original money. At the

present moment we are going to get some bonds changed."

De Griers stamped his foot with vexation, and hastened to

communicate the tidings to the General. Meanwhile we

continued to wheel the old lady along.

"Stop her, stop her," whispered the General in consternation.

"You had better try and stop her yourself," I returned--also in

a whisper.

"My good mother," he said as he approached her, "--my good

mother, pray let, let--" (his voice was beginning to tremble

and sink) "--let us hire a carriage, and go for a drive. Near

here there is an enchanting view to be obtained. We-we-we were

just coming to invite you to go and see it."

"Begone with you and your views!" said the Grandmother

angrily as she waved him away.

"And there are trees there, and we could have tea under them,"

continued the General--now in utter despair.

"Nous boirons du lait, sur l'herbe fraiche," added De Griers

with the snarl almost of a wild beast.

"Du lait, de l'herbe fraiche"--the idyll, the ideal of the

Parisian bourgeois--his whole outlook upon "la nature et la

verite"!

"Have done with you and your milk!" cried the old lady. "Go

and stuff YOURSELF as much as you like, but my stomach simply

recoils from the idea. What are you stopping for? I have

nothing to say to you."

"Here we are, Madame," I announced. "Here is the

moneychanger's office."

I entered to get the securities changed, while the Grandmother

remained outside in the porch, and the rest waited at a

little distance, in doubt as to their best course of action.

At length the old lady turned such an angry stare upon them

that they departed along the road towards the Casino.

The process of changing involved complicated calculations

which soon necessitated my return to the Grandmother for

instructions.

"The thieves!" she exclaimed as she clapped her hands

together. "Never mind, though. Get the documents cashed--No;

send the banker out to me," she added as an afterthought.

"Would one of the clerks do, Madame?"

"Yes, one of the clerks. The thieves!"

The clerk consented to come out when he perceived that he was

being asked for by an old lady who was too infirm to walk;

after which the Grandmother began to upbraid him at length,

and with great vehemence, for his alleged usuriousness, and

to bargain with him in a mixture of Russian, French, and

German--I acting as interpreter. Meanwhile, the grave-faced

official eyed us both, and silently nodded his head. At the

Grandmother, in particular, he gazed with a curiosity which

almost bordered upon rudeness. At length, too, he smiled.

"Pray recollect yourself!" cried the old lady. "And may my

money choke you! Alexis Ivanovitch, tell him that we can

easily repair to someone else."

"The clerk says that others will give you even less than he."

Of what the ultimate calculations consisted I do not exactly

remember, but at all events they were alarming. Receiving

twelve thousand florins in gold, I took also the statement of

accounts, and carried it out to the Grandmother.

"Well, well," she said, "I am no accountant. Let us hurry

away, hurry away." And she waved the paper aside.

"Neither upon that accursed zero, however, nor upon that

equally accursed red do I mean to stake a cent," I muttered to

myself as I entered the Casino.

This time I did all I could to persuade the old lady to stake

as little as possible--saying that a turn would come in the

chances when she would be at liberty to stake more. But she

was so impatient that, though at first she agreed to do as I

suggested, nothing could stop her when once she had begun. By

way of prelude she won stakes of a hundred and two hundred

gulden.

"There you are!" she said as she nudged me. "See what we

have won! Surely it would be worth our while to stake four

thousand instead of a hundred, for we might win another four

thousand, and then--! Oh, it was YOUR fault before--all your

fault!"

I felt greatly put out as I watched her play, but I decided to

hold my tongue, and to give her no more advice.

Suddenly De Griers appeared on the scene. It seemed that all

this while he and his companions had been standing beside us--

though I noticed that Mlle. Blanche had withdrawn a little

from the rest, and was engaged in flirting with the Prince.

Clearly the General was greatly put out at this. Indeed, he

was in a perfect agony of vexation. But Mlle. was careful

never to look his way, though he did his best to attract her

notice. Poor General! By turns his face blanched and reddened,

and he was trembling to such an extent that he could scarcely

follow the old lady's play. At length Mlle. and the Prince

took their departure, and the General followed them.

"Madame, Madame," sounded the honeyed accents of De Griers as

he leant over to whisper in the Grandmother's ear. "That

stake will never win. No, no, it is impossible," he added in

Russian with a writhe. "No, no!"

"But why not?" asked the Grandmother, turning round. "Show

me what I ought to do."

Instantly De Griers burst into a babble of French as he

advised, jumped about, declared that such and such chances

ought to be waited for, and started to make calculations of

figures. All this he addressed to me in my capacity as

translator--tapping the table the while with his finger, and

pointing hither and thither. At length he seized a pencil, and

began to reckon sums on paper until he had exhausted the

Grandmother's patience.

"Away with you!" she interrupted. "You talk sheer nonsense,

for, though you keep on saying 'Madame, Madame,' you haven't

the least notion what ought to be done. Away with you, I say!"

"Mais, Madame," cooed De Griers--and straightway started

afresh with his fussy instructions.

"Stake just ONCE, as he advises," the Grandmother said to me,

"and then we shall see what we shall see. Of course, his

stake MIGHT win."

As a matter of fact, De Grier's one object was to distract the

old lady from staking large sums; wherefore, he now suggested

to her that she should stake upon certain numbers, singly and

in groups. Consequently, in accordance with his instructions, I

staked a ten-gulden piece upon several odd numbers in the

first twenty, and five ten-gulden pieces upon certain groups

of numbers-groups of from twelve to eighteen, and from

eighteen to twenty-four. The total staked amounted to 160

gulden.

The wheel revolved. "Zero!" cried the croupier.

We had lost it all!

"The fool!" cried the old lady as she turned upon De Griers.

"You infernal Frenchman, to think that you should advise!

Away with you! Though you fuss and fuss, you don't even know

what you're talking about."

Deeply offended, De Griers shrugged his shoulders, favoured

the Grandmother with a look of contempt, and departed. For

some time past he had been feeling ashamed of being seen in

such company, and this had proved the last straw.

An hour later we had lost everything in hand.

"Home!" cried the Grandmother.

Not until we had turned into the Avenue did she utter a word;

but from that point onwards, until we arrived at the hotel,

she kept venting exclamations of "What a fool I am! What a

silly old fool I am, to be sure!"

Arrived at the hotel, she called for tea, and then gave orders

for her luggage to be packed.

"We are off again," she announced.

"But whither, Madame?" inquired Martha.

"What business is that of YOURS? Let the cricket stick to

its hearth. [The Russian form of "Mind your own business."]

Potapitch, have everything packed, for we are returning to

Moscow at once. I have fooled away fifteen thousand roubles."

"Fifteen thousand roubles, good mistress? My God!" And

Potapitch spat upon his hands--probably to show that he was

ready to serve her in any way he could.

"Now then, you fool! At once you begin with your weeping and

wailing! Be quiet, and pack. Also, run downstairs, and get my

hotel bill."

"The next train leaves at 9:30, Madame," I interposed, with a

view to checking her agitation.

"And what is the time now?"

"Half-past eight."

"How vexing! But, never mind. Alexis Ivanovitch, I have not a

kopeck left; I have but these two bank notes. Please run to

the office and get them changed. Otherwise I shall have

nothing to travel with."

Departing on her errand, I returned half an hour later to find

the whole party gathered in her rooms. It appeared that the

news of her impending departure for Moscow had thrown the

conspirators into consternation even greater than her losses

had done. For, said they, even if her departure should save

her fortune, what will become of the General later? And who

is to repay De Griers? Clearly Mlle. Blanche would never

consent to wait until the Grandmother was dead, but would at

once elope with the Prince or someone else. So they had all

gathered together--endeavouring to calm and dissuade the

Grandmother. Only Polina was absent. For her pad the

Grandmother had nothing for the party but abuse.

"Away with you, you rascals!" she was shouting. "What have my

affairs to do with you? Why, in particular, do you"--here

she indicated De Griers--"come sneaking here with your goat's

beard? And what do YOU"--here she turned to Mlle. Blanche

"want of me? What are YOU finicking for?"

"Diantre!" muttered Mlle. under her breath, but her eyes

were flashing. Then all at once she burst into a laugh and

left the room--crying to the General as she did so: "Elle

vivra cent ans!"

"So you have been counting upon my death, have you?" fumed

the old lady. "Away with you! Clear them out of the room,

Alexis Ivanovitch. What business is it of THEIRS? It is not

THEIR money that I have been squandering, but my own."

The General shrugged his shoulders, bowed, and withdrew, with

De Griers behind him.

"Call Prascovia," commanded the Grandmother, and in five

minutes Martha reappeared with Polina, who had been sitting

with the children in her own room (having purposely

determined not to leave it that day). Her face looked grave

and careworn.

"Prascovia," began the Grandmother, "is what I have just

heard through a side wind true--namely, that this fool of a

stepfather of yours is going to marry that silly whirligig of

a Frenchwoman--that actress, or something worse? Tell me, is

it true?"

"I do not know FOR CERTAIN, Grandmamma," replied Polina; "but

from Mlle. Blanche's account (for she does not appear to think

it necessary to conceal anything) I conclude that--"

"You need not say any more," interrupted the Grandmother

energetically. "I understand the situation. I always thought

we should get something like this from him, for I always

looked upon him as a futile, frivolous fellow who gave himself

unconscionable airs on the fact of his being a general (though

he only became one because he retired as a colonel). Yes, I

know all about the sending of the telegrams to inquire

whether 'the old woman is likely to turn up her toes soon.' Ah,

they were looking for the legacies! Without money that

wretched woman (what is her name?--Oh, De Cominges) would

never dream of accepting the General and his false teeth--no,

not even for him to be her lacquey--since she herself, they

say, possesses a pile of money, and lends it on interest, and

makes a good thing out of it. However, it is not you,

Prascovia, that I am blaming; it was not you who sent those

telegrams. Nor, for that matter, do I wish to recall old

scores. True, I know that you are a vixen by nature--that you

are a wasp which will sting one if one touches it-- yet, my

heart is sore for you, for I loved your mother, Katerina. Now,

will you leave everything here, and come away with me?

Otherwise, I do not know what is to become of you, and it is

not right that you should continue living with these people.

Nay," she interposed, the moment that Polina attempted to

speak, "I have not yet finished. I ask of you nothing in

return. My house in Moscow is, as you know, large enough for

a palace, and you could occupy a whole floor of it if you

liked, and keep away from me for weeks together. Will you

come with me or will you not?"

"First of all, let me ask of YOU," replied Polina, "whether you

are intending to depart at once?"

"What? You suppose me to be jesting? I have said that I am

going, and I AM going. Today I have squandered fifteen

thousand roubles at that accursed roulette of yours, and

though, five years ago, I promised the people of a certain

suburb of Moscow to build them a stone church in place of a

wooden one, I have been fooling away my money here! However,

I am going back now to build my church."

"But what about the waters, Grandmamma? Surely you came here

to take the waters?"

"You and your waters! Do not anger me, Prascovia. Surely you

are trying to? Say, then: will you, or will you not, come

with me?"

"Grandmamma," Polina replied with deep feeling, "I am very,

very grateful to you for the shelter which you have so kindly

offered me. Also, to a certain extent you have guessed my

position aright, and I am beholden to you to such an extent

that it may be that I will come and live with you, and that

very soon; yet there are important reasons why--why I cannot

make up my min,d just yet. If you would let me have, say, a

couple of weeks to decide in--?"

"You mean that you are NOT coming?"

"I mean only that I cannot come just yet. At all events, I

could not well leave my little brother and sister here,

since,since--if I were to leave them--they would be abandoned

altogether. But if, Grandmamma, you would take the little ones

AND myself, then, of course, I could come with you, and would

do all I could to serve you" (this she said with great

earnestness). "Only, without the little ones I CANNOT come."

"Do not make a fuss" (as a matter of fact Polina never at

any time either fussed or wept). "The Great Foster--Father

[Translated literally--The Great Poulterer] can find for all

his chicks a place. You are not coming without the children?

But see here, Prascovia. I wish you well, and nothing but

well: yet I have divined the reason why you will not come.

Yes, I know all, Prascovia. That Frenchman will never bring

you good of any sort."

Polina coloured hotly, and even I started. "For," thought I to

myself, "every one seems to know about that affair. Or

perhaps I am the only one who does not know about it? "

"Now, now! Do not frown," continued the Grandmother. "But I

do not intend to slur things over. You will take care that no

harm befalls you, will you not? For you are a girl of sense,

and I am sorry for you--I regard you in a different light to

the rest of them. And now, please, leave me. Good-bye."

"But let me stay with you a little longer," said Polina.

"No," replied the other; "you need not. Do not bother me, for

you and all of them have tired me out."

Yet when Polina tried to kiss the Grandmother's hand, the old

lady withdrew it, and herself kissed the girl on the cheek.

As she passed me, Polina gave me a momentary glance, and then

as swiftly averted her eyes.

"And good-bye to you, also, Alexis Ivanovitch. The train

starts in an hour's time, and I think that you must be weary

of me. Take these five hundred gulden for yourself."

"I thank you humbly, Madame, but I am ashamed to--"

"Come, come!" cried the Grandmother so energetically, and

with such an air of menace, that I did not dare refuse the

money further.

"If, when in Moscow, you have no place where you can lay your

head," she added, "come and see me, and I will give you a

recommendation. Now, Potapitch, get things ready."

I ascended to my room, and lay down upon the bed. A whole hour

I must have lain thus, with my head resting upon my hand. So

the crisis had come! I needed time for its consideration. To-

morrow I would have a talk with Polina. Ah! The Frenchman! So,

it was true? But how could it be so? Polina and De Griers!

What a combination!

No, it was too improbable. Suddenly I leapt up with the idea

of seeking Astley and forcing him to speak. There could be no

doubt that he knew more than I did. Astley? Well, he was

another problem for me to solve.

Suddenly there came a knock at the door, and I opened it to

find Potapitch awaiting me.

"Sir," he said, "my mistress is asking for you."

"Indeed? But she is just departing, is she not? The train

leaves in ten minutes' time."

"She is uneasy, sir; she cannot rest. Come quickly, sir; do

not delay."

I ran downstairs at once. The Grandmother was just being

carried out of her rooms into the corridor. In her hands she

held a roll of bank-notes.

"Alexis Ivanovitch," she cried, "walk on ahead, and we will

set out again."

"But whither, Madame?"

"I cannot rest until I have retrieved my losses. March on

ahead, and ask me no questions. Play continues until

midnight, does it not?"

For a moment I stood stupefied--stood deep in thought; but it

was not long before I had made up my mind.

"With your leave, Madame," I said, "I will not go with you."

"And why not? What do you mean? Is every one here a stupid

good-for-nothing?"

"Pardon me, but I have nothing to reproach myself with. I

merely will not go. I merely intend neither to witness nor to

join in your play. I also beg to return you your five hundred

gulden. Farewell."

Laying the money upon a little table which the Grandmother's

chair happened to be passing, I bowed and withdrew.

"What folly!" the Grandmother shouted after me. "Very well, then.

Do not come, and I will find my way alone. Potapitch, you must

come with me. Lift up the chair, and carry me along."

I failed to find Mr. Astley, and returned home. It was now

growing late--it was past midnight, but I subsequently learnt

from Potapitch how the Grandmother's day had ended. She had

lost all the money which, earlier in the day, I had got for

her paper securities--a sum amounting to about ten thousand

roubles. This she did under the direction of the Pole whom,

that afternoon, she had dowered with two ten-gulden pieces.

But before his arrival on the scene, she had commanded

Potapitch to stake for her; until at length she had told him

also to go about his business. Upon that the Pole had leapt

into the breach. Not only did it happen that he knew the

Russian language, but also he could speak a mixture of three

different dialects, so that the pair were able to understand

one another. Yet the old lady never ceased to abuse him,

despite his deferential manner, and to compare him

unfavourably with myself (so, at all events, Potapitch

declared). "You," the old chamberlain said to me, "treated

her as a gentleman should, but he--he robbed her right and

left, as I could see with my own eyes. Twice she caught him

at it, and rated him soundly. On one occasion she even pulled

his hair, so that the bystanders burst out laughing. Yet she

lost everything, sir--that is to say, she lost all that you had

changed for her. Then we brought her home, and, after asking

for some water and saying her prayers, she went to bed. So

worn out was she that she fell asleep at once. May God send

her dreams of angels! And this is all that foreign travel has

done for us! Oh, my own Moscow! For what have we not at home

there, in Moscow? Such a garden and flowers as you could

never see here, and fresh air and apple-trees coming into

blossom,--and a beautiful view to look upon. Ah, but what

must she do but go travelling abroad? Alack, alack!"